Oops, that could be a bit risky... because it might accidently back up the poof.

Maybe every 10 minutes or something.

Why would users operating their own machines even need a solution? If I accidentally poofed, say, ViaCAD 2D/3D off my Dock, and knew that I'd poofed something but couldn't immediately tell what...

...so what?

I either wouldn't miss it, or, at some subsequent point, would begin to think, "what a pain it is to go into /Applications [or Spotlight, or my /Applications folder in the Dock, or one of the inexhaustible supply of third-party launchers (if I had any)] every time I want to run ViaCAD; I should keep it in the Dock."

At which point, I would add it to my Dock—whether I remembered it having previously been there or not.

Hal and dk:

good points, all!