You can launch docx4all as a desktop application, or as an applet in your web browser (requires Java 6).

If you choose to do the latter, you can (provided you are running then new Java Update 10) drag the applet to your desktop, where it will keep running even if you close the web browser.

See this video:

Is this a gimmick, or is it truly useful?

It is useful if you want to close your browser, but not docx4all.

It can also be thought of as a way to preview before you install (dragging it to the desktop installs the desktop shortcut / Start menu option).

It would be nice if, having dragged the applet outside of the browser, you could resize it (as you can with a normal desktop application) – but you can’t (at least without some extra coding on our part).

So, although its cool, it is not really a major feature.