[besson3c]

I enjoy having Growl installed and think it is generally useful, although it has some technical and usability issues. I'd like to focus more on the usability issues and the net gains of a messaging system like Growl, and whether it would ever make sense to incorporate it into the main OS.

For starters, sometimes the messages are useful, sometimes they aren't. For instance, if you have just checked your email or are in your email program, getting a notification about a new email message is not-so-useful. However, when you aren't, I find seeing the basic details of the message (i.e. subject, who it is from) more useful than just seeing the dock icon badge updated. I get too many emails for the dock icon badge to be terribly useful, and I don't always read my messages as soon as I get them anyway.

The other problem with the messaging system is when they appear when you don't want them to, or when their windows are in the way of stuff that is of greater concern to you. Maybe they need a little more intelligence?

For new users I can anticipate there being difficulty as to what app the message applies to in the case where the message itself doesn't make this obvious. Growl lets you adjust the window style per app, but this is a lot of additional configuration that I'm not sure that Joe sixpack would think of doing on his own. You'd also have to memorize which style belongs with which app.

What do you think of what the Ubuntu team has done with their messaging system and the latest Ubuntu release? Here is a little Flash demo

On the whole, do you think this sort of feature has the legs to eventually become useful to the general public as a core OS feature, or do you think that there are too many complexities to have to overcome to make this so that it isn't annoying and naggy?

[TETENAL]

1.) The Windows notification speech bubbles are annoying as hell.
2.) This thread belongs into the OS X forum.
3.) Your link links to a 404- page.

[besson3c]

I've fixed the link. Do you have a screenshot of the Windows notification thing? I've never seen those before...

[besson3c]

Oh wait, you're talking about those little bubbles that are tethered to the task bar... Okay, yeah, those are annoying, in part because the notifications are extraneous (you have unused icons on your desktop, OMG!!), and in part because they don't seem to go away on their own and there is no "don't bother me about this again" button or any configuration that I've ever found.

[besson3c]

The other question is if something like this were added to the main OS, should it be easily skinable? Should I be able to have a pink pony or teen wolf provide me with notifications? The answer: YES!!!

[- - e r i k - -]

Nothing in Mac OS X will ever be (officially) skinnable.

[gradient]

I like Growl, for sure. If there were a similar messaging system in OSX I'd be all for it, as long as it was completely customizable on an app-by-app basis similar to Growl. The cosmetics wouldn't worry me too much, as I never tend to have any major issues with look and feel of Apple products.