On May 17, 5:51 pm, Christopher Forsythe <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 5:28 PM, Peter Hosey <[email protected]> wrote: > > On May 17, 2010, at 15:26:07, Christopher Forsythe wrote: > > > If the user isn't able to control that, it's annoying. > > > To the user, specifically. > > Right, sorry, I needed to be specific. > > So the things that users need to have controlled by admins, like Start/Stop > of Growl, check for updates, etc etc are all things which are preferences. > Even the default display should be in the preferences file. > > Since this is the case, do admins really need to be able to configure per > application notifications? Especially since we advocate and recommend sane > defaults to app devs? > > Chris
The answer is yes, many admins feel the need to be able to control specifically what dialogs, notifications, alerts, popups, etc. appear in front of the user. Each unexpected alert is at times considered "an error" by the end user in many environments and can cause trouble for the admin who has to take a call, close a ticket, 'splain. There's a school that says "a silent system is the best system." However, some admins would want to allow Cyberduck to use Growl notifications, but might want to disallow Mail.app from using Growl notifications. So I guess what I'm advocating here is a blacklist / whitelist approach with the relevant preferences being in /Library/Preferences - something that overrides the user experience for non-admin (Standard, Managed, Mobile, Network) user accounts. Essentially, Growl would check the whitelist / blacklist and act appropriately - skipping the alert if the rule told it to. For example, I know of one admin who wrote a very nice emergency notification system that used Growl to display alerts on computers in case of fire, flood, etc. However, he had to abandon it when he found that he was getting lots of calls / complaints about Growl alerts from other apps on the system. As far as the Adobe thing goes, sure Adobe was lazy and stupid in distributing Growl without notice or cleanup. However, it does highlight the point that Growl in and of itself is not a welcome citizen on many managed networks and as a fan of Growl, I'd like to see the developers embrace the challenge of changing that perception by offering management options. If admins were able to configure per-computer Growl settings (or per group settings), they would likely evaluate Growl as a gift rather than view it as a nuisance. A simple whitelist approach limits the notifications to "blessed" apps. So if you're an admin that wants Growl, but doesn't necessarily want alerts blooming all over the screen, prompting unnecessary questions, then your current choices are to manage each apps preferences individually (hard) or invest a lot of time and energy into end-user training (also hard and often fruitless). On the other hand, if you are an admin that subscribes to the KISS method of management (keep it simple stupid) then the solution is to keep Growl off your standard image. Some end users might find it annoying that the admins might be managing their alerts settings. These users also might find it annoying that their network, energy saver and sharing settings are locked down too. But whether the admin wins or the user wins is dependent on a discussion that has nothing to do with whether Growl is manageable. Many admins will shy away from tools that don't allow manageability as they have waged hard-fought battles to get the rights to manage the user experience in the first place. Whether the user wins that fight or the admin wins that fight is really irrelevant. If the Developers of Growl give admins manageability, then Growl won't be considered annoyanceware, which is currently is by more than a few in the Mac Manager community. I could go on about Sparkle too, since many admins would rather repackage their own patches and use whatever tool they have at their disposal rather than let Sparkle be the agent of updating. Dean BTW: should you want to implement something like this, I will be happy to test it thoroughly for you. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Growl Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/growldiscuss?hl=en.
