TLS : It's set up to install to C: because it's linked to it's self and the programs and mods and icons that are within the RocketDock folder. As I explained in the readme it writes it's own (your) settings to a Settings.ini in the root.
When you make a shortcut in the Dock Icon Preferences it writes the local address to the ini.
If you are a programmer you could write your own DockMenu , I'm not a programmer and neither are 90% of this planets internet users, and 90% of that 90% have their systems in C:
I had my doubts about adding and explaining how to rename a second .ini file......simply renaming a file can be a daunting experience for some...
 
I first opened it to a row of blue question marks and 3 links that worked, when you opened it from the 'Leopard Launcher' shortcut on your desktop you were presented with a row of pretty icons and most of them worked!   

Heh-- no, I understand, and I don't mean to say that most people should be programmers.  I'm just coming from that background.

The real problem with hard-coded directory paths is that I still install programs which try to install stuff to a "My Documents" folder, instead of using the Windows environment variable to represent the location of your user folder.  Anybody who has installed programs on Vista has surely come across the weirdness with programs trying to save stuff in your C:UserDocuments folder instead of just C:User  .  This is the result of not properly using variables.  If they'd just use the environment variable to find your %APPDATA% path, then there would never be any problems.  For instance, even once a program is installed, it has to pay attention to which drive it's on.  It can't just go flinging around "C:" everywhere.  That's a programmatic *bad* approach.

Games like Final Fantasy 7 need hacking for reasons like this.  It assumed that a CD drive could never possibly be anything other than D.  That wasn't even true with my old school Windows 98 machine-- It was drive E!  So there was some registry hacking taking place there, needless to say.

Anyway-- the program seems really lightweight.  I've used ObjectDock before (which RocketDock seems to very cleanly emulate), but ObjectDock always felt like it was trying to eat my computer.

Thanks for the download

Tim : ObjectDock !!! aaaaaaaa! Eat you computer and your time and if your not warned before hand your sanity too!
WindowBlind, ObjectDock, DeskTopSomethingorother, all of them!! Processor Monsters and Sooo much has to start up just for it all to function.
This is why I like RocketDock.

Something you should know , some (if not all) the Gadgets for ObjectDock also work in RocketDock, they just have to be put in the 'Docklets' folder, and they'll show up in the right click menu

You can put this anywhere you want that's why it writes the settings in the settings.ini, so that you can edit it.
If it was addressing your shortcuts in system variables it would make it more difficult to set it up manually.

Something else you might want to know! lol , When you choose icons in the preferences window it will make the full path, I've edited these to work straight from the folder , like a html page ; address now is 'iconsicon.png', but program will save 'Y:Program FilesRocketDockiconsicon.png'
 
It's portable for those who know how to use it, it's set up for C: now so you can learn how to use it.