14 DAY TRIAL // The Linux distros have all kinds of system notification mechanisms. Some are better than others, but for the most part they function the way they should. On the other hand, some developers, like those from the elementary OS team, go a little bit further and are able to provide a much better experience for end users.
"System notifications" is the kind of feature on Linux that is usually taken for granted. It's been available for a long time and users are now ignoring it completely. It's there and it does its job, although it's implemented differently on various operating systems. Some operating systems do it better than others, but it's rarely noticed.
For example, the notifications in Ubuntu can't be dismissed and users can't interact with them. It's a design choice made by Canonical and it will remain this way, at least until Unity 8 is released. In Linux Mint, the notifications can be dismissed, but it has other bugs (like cropping the links).
KDE-based distros also have a different kind of notifications, which are much more detailed. They are much better looking than the ones in Unity or Cinnamon, although they could be perceived as a little bit intrusive.
The elementary OS notifications are awesome
It's hard to pinpoint why the notification system implemented in elementary OS Freya looks and feels much better than its counterparts. Maybe it has to do with the animations or with the way they disappear from the screen, or maybe they look good because the entire system has something that sets it apart.
In any case, users can interact with them, they can be closed manually, and they are not very intrusive. In fact, it's quite fun to see them in action, especially because the terminal is also tied in with the notifications. That means that if you have something working in the background, like a compilation for example, you will get a notification when it's done. We've put together a short video to give people some understanding of what's happening.
For now, only the Beta version of elementary OS Freya is available for download and there is no indication when the developers will release the final build. They are still working on it and they are not tied to any schedule. The system is based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, but it uses a lot of its own applications and components, like the Pantheon desktop environment.
Note: Open the video in full-screen for a better experience and choose 1080p resolution.
