Ubuntu System Panel - a Single-Pane Panel View of Your Computer

There are all kinds of ways to launch programs in Linux. If you're using Gnome Linux, which I am at the moment, there are at least three that I can think of off the top of my head. The first is via the Gnome Menu Bar, which is typically a panel of three separate menus, labeled Applications, Places, and System, that reside in the Gnome Panel. Scrolling through these menus will provide access to not only your applications, but system preferences and administrative tasks, as well as locations on your hard drive, recent documents, and more.

There is also something installed by default (but not activated), called the Gnome Main Menu. This is a single menu that combines all three of the above menus into a single entry. The Applications menu is identical, but at the bottom of it are two extra options, labeled Places and System, that take the place of the Places and System menus from the Gnome Menu Bar.

Another way to launch programs is by hitting the Alt key simultaneously with the F2 key. This brings up the "Run" dialog. Simply type the command you want to initiate, such as "firefox" to start the Firefox web browser, and the Run command will perform it.

But it seems as if no matter how easy or simple the built-in ways of launching programs are, people still want more. Heck, I have two more installed, the GnomeDo launcher (similar to Quicksilver on Mac OSX), and the Avant Window Navigator, a panel replacement utility that mimics the look and functionality of the new Mac OSX Leopard Dock. More often than not, I find myself using one of these options. I'll just hit the keystroke combination to bring up GnomeDo, start typing the name of the program I want, and GnomeDo looks for it, then when I hit Enter... launches it. Avant Window Navigator, on the other hand, allows me to install Launchers for specific programs (the one I use most often), which are always visible and can be launched with a single click.