The rise of the smartphone has definitely changed things in a number of ways. For one thing we all talk about apps now, not programs, which is either good or bad depending on your religion. For another, we’re starting to enjoy the idea of games and programs apps being instantly accessible at all times.

Which is where the cute Pokki free software comes into action. The product offers a nice little app store on your computer all wrapped up in a cute pastel interface which mimics the best that tablets and smartphones have to offer.

The software also embeds nicely with your Windows installation, with a taskbar icon and if you want, direct access to your hard drive and control panel for day to day admin tasks. The key thing though is the ability to install a range of free apps onto your computer and control them from within the same simple interface.

All the favorites are there, including top games such as Angry Birds and The Settlers, as well as more mundane apps for email, managing photos and social networks like Facebook. It’s not offering anything radically new, but what it does do is bring the management of your favorite apps…er…programs…er…into a more accessible space. Instead of having to dig down into menus to start up a game, it’s a couple of clicks instead.

Whether you like this approach will depend a lot on whether you’re more of a workhorse computer user or an entertainment lover, but that said, it looks to be a harmless way to add some custom nice to your desktop at zero costs. Definitely worth checking out.