Although the page that I linked made it appear that a desktop icon was necessary, some of the other tutorials I read didn't. I tried it both ways...w/a desktop shortcut and just by doing the same thing with a program already on my Quick Launch. Why it worked for you and not me, I have no idea, but at least if it worked for you, it still gives me something to shoot for.
If I had to have a shortcut displayed on the desktop for every program that I wanted to launch this way, then I would not be interested, because I like to keep my desktop clean.
I have no intention of trying to launch a long list of programs in this fashion, only a few that I work with daily. Even with my bad memory, I'm sure that I could handle a few. I know that it isn't really all that much work, but I dislike having to use the Start Menu any more than I have to. I could also make the desktop a bit cleaner looking by not showing any programs on the Quick Launch toolbar.
It's all about having options, and an option is not something that everybody has to use.