its alot like the taskbar but much more leet ... one thing you can do with it is add aditional features thru html coded "widgets". you can put just about anything on it , mount / dismount cds , attached devices ( usb , ipod , etc ) by dragging onto it ...
There's a similar app for Windows call Konfabulator. It's a bit of a system pig on this shitty work PC, but I'm sure it would be fine on a normal gaming rig. http://www.konfabulator.com/