Software

Desktop Widget Comparison

HanaDaddy Leave a comment

There are several similar products when it comes to Desktop Widgets. There are

  • Apple DashBoard
  • Microsoft Vista Gadget
  • Google Desktop Gadget
  • Yahoo Widget

Here is the article from Yahoo Widget Blog The Ever-Changing Widget Landscape with the comparison and the explanation between the different version of Widgets or similar products.

I agree with the blog in regards of Apple DashBoard and Vista Gadget that they are heavily depended on the OS. I can’t even try Dashboard and Vista Gadget cause I don’t have the OS (Mac OSX or Vista). With the current Windows XP, I have two options Google Gadget and Yahoo Widget anyway. But since Goolge Gadget is much less dynamic and intuitive, so my only option is Yahoo.

There are about 4000 widgets in yahoo widget gallery. That is just too many and I already wasted quite amount time browsing and testing one by one.

I hope that there is some featured articles or guides to introduce only few outstanding widgets everyweek or so.

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RocketDock – Windows App Launcher

HanaDaddy Leave a comment

RocketDock ( http://www.punksoftware.com/rocketdock) is Windows Application Launcher similar to the Mac OS X’s launch bar.

I was longing for such App launcher for Windows and tried some yahoo widget previously but they were very disappointing. When I first found this free software and I was very excited and satisfied with its powerful features that I always wanted.

RocketDock in my Desktop

Actually there are several similar Dock App for Windows, but this is good enough for me not to try other Dock / Launcher softwares.

  • You can add and remove icons by just drag and drop.
  • You can change the icon image with the regular image files (jpeg, gif, png)
  • Multi language support
  • Full control setting of its behavior (Icon Enlargement, Menu hides…)

Take a look at this movie that they made for showcase of RocketDock.
http://one.revver.com/watch/160224/flv

You may need 3rd party ICON images to decorate your dock. Try Everaldo’s free Crystal Icon Series. They are great and comes in various sizes from 16X16 to 128X128. If the above site does not work, try CrystalXp.net. They host many icon image sets, and I believe that they are free for personal use. But I guess you need to contact the author for the commercial use.

Other similar Windows Docking products are ObjectDock and AquaDock.

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