GNOME Do is an open source launcher utility for the Linux desktop that offers a minimalistic, task-oriented, and keyboard-friendly approach to application launching and task management. The latest version, 0.8.1, was released on Friday.

GNOME Do was originally modeled after Quicksilver, a similar program for Mac OS X. It runs hidden in the background and appears when the user invokes it with a keyboard shortcut. It allows users to type in the name of a program or some other item and then perform an action with the selected target, and it has a predictive autocompletion feature so that it can be used very quickly.

GNOME Do is highly extensible and provides a plugin framework that can be used to extend the number of behaviors that it supports. In addition to launching applications and opening files or folders, it can be used to post messages to Twitter, look up stock quotes, add appointments to a Google calendar, and perform a wide range of other tasks.

The previous version, 0.8.0, introduced support for a new user interface mode called "docky" that is modeled loosely after the Mac OS X dock. It provides task management capabilities and can be used as an alternative to the conventional GNOME panel. Any GNOME Do action that is accessible through the keyboard interface can be stored in the dock for easy mouse access. Right-clicking on a dock item will display a context menu with a list of GNOME Do behaviors that are supported by the item.

The dock is intended to complement the keyboard interface rather than replace it. When docky is enabled, hitting the GNOME Do keyboard shortcut will cause the keyboard-based launcher to be displayed inside of the dock. Docky supports autocompletion and behaves almost exactly like the original GNOME Do launching interface. One difference is that it will display a plus button which can be used to add the currently selected action to the panel.

One of the unique aspects of docky that differentiates it from other dock clones is that its contents are largely populated dynamically. Docky will automatically display icons for frequently used launch behaviors alongside items that have been added manually. As you use GNOME Do, it will automatically adjust the contents of the dock based on what features and applications you are using. You can increase the number of automatically-included items by clicking and dragging the left or right edges to resize the dock.

The docky style got a visual overhaul in version 0.8.11 and several other features were added, including support for an analog clock applet. The developers also streamlined the dock's behavior so that task management and launching are more cohesive.

Testing

I compiled the new version from source on openSUSE 11.1 so that I could test it myself. I've previously experimented with several other dock utilities; last year, I ran Avant Window Navigator (AWN) for about six months instead of a conventional panel, but I eventually grew frustrated with its inconsistent behaviors. Docky feels more natural to me in many ways and it seems like a compelling and reasonable way to expand on the GNOME Do concept.

The downside of docky relative to AWN is that it still lacks support for many of the specialized components that users require in a panel replacement, such as a virtual desktop visualization, CPU and memory monitoring applets, and a tray icon area.

In practice, this particular limitation isn't particularly troublesome because there are several third-party utilities that can be used alongside GNOME Do to provide such capabilities. For example, I like stalonetray as a tray icon container and I think conky is pretty nice for desktop system resource monitoring. I haven't found any particularly good alternatives for virtual desktop visualization yet and I'm inclined to think that it would be a good feature addition for docky in a future version of GNOME Do (perhaps by embedding a WnckPager widget).

Docky is also less configurable than AWN. I had AWN configured so that it could be obscured behind other windows but would pop to the foreground when I moved my cursor to the bottom of the screen. I prefer this over conventional autohide because it makes it possible for me to still see the dock when I don't have a bunch of windows open. Unfortunately, GNOME Do doesn't support that yet and only has conventional autohide.

Despite the limitations, the latest version of GNOME Do and the docky mode are remarkably advanced. The seamlessness and modularity of the program is very closely aligned with the UNIX philosophy, but it delivers all that power with a highly-polished Mac-like aesthetic that outclasses most Linux software. It has already inspired an emerging discussion about the possibility of adopting the concepts behind GNOME Do more broadly and using them across the entire desktop.