dock

The Dock is a prominent feature of the graphical user interface of an operating system. It is used to launch applications and to switch between running applications. To have or not to have a dock in Linux is really dependent on individual preferences. Linux distros like Ubuntu and Fedora do not come with a dock by default but there are a number of fully customizable dock applications around that one can easily install and create a dock for their desktop like Avant Window Navigator, Cairo dock, Gnome-Do Docky, WBar, Gnome Panel. Dock provides a quick method for the user to launch and alternate software applications.