Who knows, it may wind up changing. You can only do so much when creating an operating system. Sometimes, you just plain forget to add some piece of functionality in there. Maybe it will go back. I had completely forgotten about it until you mentioned it, and now I realize how handy it was. Although, my dock isn't nearly as congested as it sounds like yours is. Once in a great while, I find myself opening up my applications folder to find something I don't use all that often. Other times, I'll just double click the file I'm working on and let it open the app for me.