You don't need to defend No-Beep, I'm already in your camp.  But for
my interest in man-machine interfacing, I was just trying to "explore"
some characteristics of beeps, whether potentially positive or
negative, to see if there are any interesting uses for them at the
level we're talking about.  They are not advocacy, just thinking and
learning.    :)

Obviously _sound_ has a place in applications (like Skype), but the
explorations didn't really come up with anything useful about a _beep_
at this low a level.

Some quick responses, below:

>> Let's bloviate about the characteristics of this sort of UI element, a
>> beep, and see if we can identify anything interesting:
>>
>>   - Beep is a way to get the users attention assuming their speakers
>> are turned on and not muted.
>
> and they're sittign at their machine, not elsewhere doing something
> different

Of course, one would need to be within earshot.

>>   - Beep accesses a different sense than the screen so, for example,
>> if you want to be elsewhere in the same room, not actively looking at
>> the screen, but want software to pre-empt your attention ASAP.  But I
>> think this should be application-specific, not deep in the system.
>
> I find a notifier in a bright colour quite informative enough.

I was trying to explore the use of a different sense.  Auditory cues
afford use-cases a visual ones do not.  Some other examples:

  - I might wish to have my laptop lid closed to save power while
running test cases.
  - Maybe I'm at the sink doing the dishes with the laptop on the
table behind me, but I need to know when "something" happens.
  - Maybe I'm color-blind or blind, and like auditory cues.

(I'm NOT advocating, just exploring).

>>   - Beep does not need any particular graphical or framework
>> dependency.  That's nice.
>
>
> But a dependency on system sound, as we've seen, is problematic.

This is Squeak, sound _shouldn't_ be problematic.  But I guess that's
not reality at least in Linux..

>>   - Beeps are not informative, but are "irregular" which, to me, would
>> be an indication of something _wrong_, something negative not
>> positive.
>
> Um, Skype and FB beep me all the time as part of their normal notification
> process.  Not indicating anything wrong.

Those are not monotone _beeps_ though, are they?  Aren't they a "tune"
which is much more informative?

>>   - Beeps can be less-intrusive than a modal pop-up, because while it
>> may cause the user to pause and wonder what the beep is about, it
>> doesn't require any action to get rid of it like modal pops do -- the
>> sound is just there and gone.
>
> We're not talking about a modal pop-up.  We're talking about augmenting (as
> some of us are arguing, unnecessarily) the opening of a notifier.

Again, just exploring characteristics of auditory notification vs.
visual..  Not advocating..  :)

>>   - However, it's VERY intrusive, IMO, to arbitrarily introduce
>> noise-pollution into the users environment.  Unacceptably so.
>>
>> So, overall, I can't think of any good reason base Squeak should ever
>> beep at the user.  If it were anything, it would be something related
>> to mis-use of low-level gestures -- like a key combination that's
>> common in the outside world but different or not accepted in Squeak.
>
>
> I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

Not.