MARC BOOKMEYER SunnyMenu was written as an application launcher to take up virtually no screen space, yet accessible via the mouse.
I prefer the visual approach to launching applications, I couldn't always remember the name of the application I wished to launch. To assist with this I also use categories such as Text, Imaging, Web which I've found makes it easier to find the application your looking for.
So instead of having 50 applications in your Dock, you could have 7 categories with 7 applications in each. So instead of choosing between 50, you only choose between 7, then choose between 7 again. This is the advantage of sub-menus. And for those programs you use all the time? Put them in the root menu for easy access.
(Version 1.01)