Welcome planetlars, I think you might want to visit the WinCustomize Wiki. It's full of information and tutorials. Click the link and once you've gone through it come on back. WWW Link

It can.  Plus moreso than the free
You can choose to hide the windows taskbar or not.  OB has a docklet to display the Windows start panel
It can be.  Or you can create your own.
No.  Theme manager is for (mostly) ODNT apps.
The start panel docklet will be skinned by WB, the rest will not.  Oftentimes the artists here at WC will create matching dock backgrounds though.

Doh!
Philly had the better answer.
Sorry man.

Oh, no you don't. I had the better answer! What, if I turn around do I get a pie in the face!         

Thanks Zubaz, all joking aside, I think I maybe finally getting the hang of it. You did answer all the questions.   

Thanks for your answer!

Following your advice I went here: http://wiki.wincustomize.com/wiki/ObjectDock.

By what I can gather from the tutorials listed there, there are "docklets". Do I need these or does OD work as a taskbar showing open windows? I made out the latter from ODs main page description but still am not sure about the relation to the taskbar.

I was asking those questions because I have such a nice Suite installed I don't want to give up (not even the start menu) (therefore I'm not trying to install the free version) and I don't want to have two taskbars.

Best regards, Lars

everything answered! Many Thanks again! Lars

All right then Lars, just remember you can always come back to the forums with questions. If you do need more direct help with a problem, if you get one, contact support@stardock.com.   

yeah and if you need help.... arg! Dang you quick draw mcgaw!