I have been a Windows user from the time I was a little tot. I am still a Windows user (and am perfectly happy with it), but sometimes I look over at a Mac and wish I had just a few of their features on my Windows machine. After doing some searching, I have been able to find four applications that give me the few things that I wanted to have on my Windows PC but has traditionally only been available on a Mac.
As you can tell, Rocketdock is an application launcher that functions in the same way as the Dock does on Mac computers. I have always really liked the Dock on Macs, because it helped keep your desktop and task bar clear of clutter that can get built up over time. Rocketdock also has several docklets available that allows you to customize it to your liking.
RocketDock has been previously mentioned on Make Use Of, such as Tina here.
Widgets have always interested me with their ability to keep you up to date on whatever you want while still being hidden behind your desktop. A simple press of a hotkey opens up a world of tools and knowledge. Yahoo! Widgets allows you to bring this functionality to your Windows XP PC. There are almost 5,000 widgets available from Yahoo so you will definitely be able to find what you need.
Expose has always been such a nice feature on Macs that serves as a great alternative to alt+tab. Alt+tab has traditionally served me well, but as I have gotten more and more into being a geek, I tend to have more and more applications open at the same time. This can make alt+tab not as useful when switching between windows or applications. DEexpose2 brings great expose functionality to your Windows computer to give you an alternative to alt+tab.
Quicksilver was the first keyboard application launcher I ever heard about, but it was only available for Macs. Quicksilver allows users to quickly perform many different types of tasks through just a couple of keystrokes. In early 2007, Launchy was released and brought Quicksilver-like functionality to Windows XP. Since its release, Launchy has received critical acclaim, and it was also recently written about on Make Use Of by Shankar. You might also want to check out Enso Launcher that was covered by Jimmy. We also talked about it in latest MakeUseOf Podcast as well.
What Mac features would you like to see brought over to the PC?
Kyle Judkins is a 24 year old marketer and part-time tech blogger. He is the author of LostInTechnology where he talks about some basic technology tips and tricks that everyone can use.
Filed Under: Cool Software Apps ¦ Lists of tools ¦ Windows
Tags: desktop enhancements, docks, launcher, Mac, tabs, widgets, windows tips, XP
I love Rocketdock. It’s the most brilliant dock available on Windows, and totally flexible.
I use both platforms (OSX and XP) and like each for specific reasons. My favorite freeware on OSX is a little onscreen notepad that neatly hides away when not in use. It is called SideNote. It rocks and I have searched in vain for something similar on XP…no dice yet. Anyone know about this most excellent program and know if there is an XP alternative that works the same way?
I use VMware Fusion on my Macbook to get the best of both worlds. No compromises necessary!
I proudly use Launchy.
I’m so addicted to it that, I found it difficult to access/launch any programs if Launchy is not running in the background.
If you are using Launchy, there is no use in having RocketDock except for its awesome eye-candy !!!
Nice List.
I don’t use Launchy, instead I use Google Desktop Search. Because it indexes your start menu it has the same functionality as Launchy, and more!
Enso is awesome
I’d like to see multiple desktops in windows. There is a microsoft tool that allows it, but it’s so ****ty it’s not worth even trying. Anybody know of an alternative?
Ja, but you’ll have to fork out about a tenner. Cube Desktop rocks harder than ANY of the others,…dexpot comes in second but loses it’s handle on some windows apps and when they’re gone,…they’re GONE!
You could use Virtual Dimension for multiple desktops. I’m not sure where it ranks but it’s easy to try.
Mark
[...] with their ability to keep you up to date on whatever you want while still being hidden behind your desktop. A simple press of a hotkey opens up a world of tools and knowledge. Yahoo! Widgets allows you to [...]
Launchy, Launchy, Launchy…..blah, blah, blah. Try Keybreeze instead. Works in the same way but much less complicated.
In the reverse of the question, I’d like to see something brought to Macs. I’d like to see the acknowledgment that anything that’s not a server, a mainframe, or an embedded system is a PC. A microwave is not a PC. An Apple Macintosh PC most certainly is.
From a Mac, I’d like, umm…a proper understanding of modular integration such as is found with Mail, iCal, and Address Book.
To get even a little bit closer to Mac Functionality…. add the Stacks Docklet to your RocketDock to bring some Leopard to you Winbox
I wonder, why people who write about dock apps never mention Blanch. Blanch by One Guy Coding is an old, but still excellent application for launching applications. Instead of copying the Apple dock, it creates a number of tabbed toolbars. I find it easier to operate because you can have more or less fixed layouts for different categories instead of one long strip of icons that is changed everytime you add a new app…