I'm a GNOME user and almost never use its dock directly. I have my typical programs added as favorites on the dock and switch to them directly via keyboard with meta + 1 through meta + 9.
Seldom used applications don't make that cut, but they're... seldom used. I tend to switch to them using alt-tab rather than clicking through on the dock.
In general, I prefer using the keyboard, so I have never once wished that a dock was more prominent in GNOME. I'm glad it stays out of my way until I explicitly summon it with a keypress.
