[ Thanks to LinuxLinks for this link.
]
“A dock is a graphical user interface element that
allows the user to have one-click access to frequently used
applications. This type of utility also enables users to switch
quickly between applications, as well as to monitor programs. This
type of application is an excellent way of extending the
functionality and usefulness of the desktop. In recent times, the
popularity of the dock has been enhanced by the Mac OS X operating
system.“We have seen software applications that emulate the appearance
of the Mac OS X desktop on Linux. Mac4Lin is a popular way of
giving the Linux desktop the complete Mac look. However, many users
do not want to go that far and replicate the Mac look in its
entirety. Instead, some users simply want the functionality
provided by the application dock element. Here step forwards the
Linux dock. However, do not think of Linux docks as simply being a
replication of the OS X dock. The very best ones add new
functionality, and are more extensible than their OS X
counterpart.“The concept of the dock dates back many decades. Acorn
Computer’s Arthur and NeXT’s NEXTSTEP are early examples of
operating systems that implemented the dock concept.”