dock software

One piece of software that I've found quite helpful is an application dock. Recent versions of Mac OS has this concept, but not Windows so far. Windows does have the Quick Launch bar, but its features are much more limited.

The product I use is Stardock ObjectDock. There's a free version that gives you a zoomer dock (the icons in the dock enlarge when you mouse over them). For $19.95, you can purchase ObjectDock Plus, which gives you tabbed docks in addition to the zoomer.

Object Dock zoomer

I've got Plus, and I love it. I have a zoomer on the right side of my screen for my frequently used applications. At the top of the screen, I have several single-tab docks. These act like little drawers that slide out when you mouse over them. Each drawer contains a different category of applications, like office apps, media players, games, development tools, and so on.

Object Dock Plus, drawers of tabbed docks

The fun part of ObjectDock is that the background is skinnable and you can get custom or themed icons for it. My favorite place to get icons and backgrounds is the WinCustomize ObjectDock Gallery. (I think you need to register at the site to download stuff, but it's well worth it.) If you don't want to register, deviantArt also has an ObjectDock category and generic dock icons.

melander.catchup()

For part of this blog, I hope to be able to capture a unique opportunity I have in the realms of geek knowledge. I'm a Java/web programmer who worked for IBM for nine years. I recently accepted a job with SPSS working with Microsoft SharePoint--a product about which I knew nothing when I started the application process. Why would they hire me? Good question. I don't know the answer. :-)

Anyway, since I interviewed for the job, I've been doing research on Microsoft technologies, considering that I have no experience with anything but Windows and the Office end-user suite and I'm going to have to use these technologies in my new job.

What I'm discovering is quite fascinating. It isn't that MS technologies are so terrible or so wonderful--they seem to be much as I imagined them, with strengths and weaknesses just like everything else--but it's more about learning about the Microsoft paradigm and how it differs so drastically from what I'm used to. More on this later.

I would also like to talk about software and websites I've found. There's a lot of great stuff out there I know I couldn't live with out--or, at least, I wouldn't want to try. There's also a lot of sad stuff out there, too.

Anyway, I'm a Java geek in a strange land, and this is all about my journeys.

manifesto 2.0

Two blogs???? "Gee, melander, given the fact that you have nascent blogs all over the internet, what makes you think you can take on two similarly-themed ones at the same time?"

That's a good point. I have no guarantees. This is my reasoning: I set up vwp 1.0 as a blog about my day-to-day life, so friends and family can catch up on what I've been doing.

However, I am a geek, and there are more things in geek heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. I wanted a blog where I could ramble about technology--mainly software--and my valued non-geek friends wouldn't have to put up with it.

Now, I know that I shouldn't be doing concurrent development of two major versions at the same time, but it's a design choice that I made for good reason.