NetShare users kept using the app months after Apple pulled it. I think people finally stopped using it to tether because an update finally broke it, not because Apple deleted it off people’s phones…
There’s a reason it’s at the top of the screen, and it has nothing to do with screen resolution. Try looking up Fitt’s Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fittss_law).
Essentially, the menu items are infinitely tall hit targets… no matter how fast the mouse moves towards them, one can never overshoot them vertically. Menus in Windows and most *nix environments require both horizontal and vertical precision.
Furthermore, why are you bothering with the Dock when Exposé and Spotlight (or Quicksilver, Launchbar, etc.) offer great power user alternatives?
Personally, I still can’t stand how Windows and Linux make no distinction between applications and windows.