The Logic Off Topic list

Hi gang,

Having recently bought a Powerbook with OSX Panther, I'm slowly 
starting to fall in love with this new OS (after switching mindsets, 
coming to terms with the fact that X is not 9, etc :).
However, there's one thing I dearly miss...  On my OS9 machine, I 
have a bunch of popup windows tucked away at the bottom of my screen. 
They all contain aliases to my most used applications -- a window for 
graphics, one for music, one for internet, etc. That way I can launch 
any application I want without having to open a Finder window.  Also 
I can drag & drop files on whichever application to force a file to 
be opened with a non-default application.

Is there a OSX system extension that allows me to do something 
similar?  I tried putting a folder with application-aliases in the 
dock, and even though that allows me to launch applications by 
click-holding on the folder, it does _not_ allow dragging and 
dropping of files on the aliases.  And besides, I hate the fact that 
I have to click-hold-and-wait for the popup to open -- I'd like that 
to be instantaneous, just as the OS9 popup windows are.

Thanks for any pointers in advance.  Oh, and if anyone knows of any 
other tools/utilities/enhancements I should check out, any tips would 
also be mucho appreciated.  I just don't feel like experimenting too 
much with potentially buggy software on a brand new, smooth running 
machine...

Aside: apart from falling in love with OSX in general, I _do_ still 
think the dock is not exactly Apple's greatest invention ever...  It 
reminds me too much of the hateful Windows taskbar (or whatever its 
name is).  Either it takes up screenspace I want to use, or (with 
autohide on, as I have now) it tends to popup unexpectedly as soon as 
you move the mouse too far down.  Visually distracting.  I wish 
ApplWindows got ported to OSX...  Together with the Finder's popup 
windows, this still is the ultimate combo for smooth application 
switching and launching I've ever had.

cheers,
HJ

-- 
Hendrik Jan Veenstra   h @ k n o w a r e . n l
Omega Art: http://www.omega-art.com/