As for the rest of the bundled applications, Forsythe told that both the GrowlTunes add-on, which hooks into iTunes, and the HardwareGrowler, which keeps users updated about hardware status, will follow Growl into the Mac App Store. "The command line utility growlnotify will be an additional download that people can click a button to download from our website," Forsythe said. However, other add-ons, like GrowlSafari, will be left behind unless an enterprising individual takes the initiative to start developing them.

There are also some personnel changes afoot. Richter, who has worked on Growl for a long time, has assumed a new role as lead developer for the project. He replaces former lead developer Peter Hosey, who moved on to other pursuits in August. While Horsey is taking a step back, Forsythe describe him as "a good friend" and says he's "still welcome to work on Growl at any time."

Numerically, Growl 1.3 may sound like only a minor update over Growl 1.2.2, but the new version is still a major milestone in the history of the open-source Mac software project, thanks to its feature set and new distribution method. It's not the first such product finding new life and sustainment through the Mac App Store, nor will it be the last, but it is a testament to the kind of projects that can make their way in Apple's marketplace.

as a 7.3MB download, Growl 3.1 runs on Mac OS X 10.7 and requires a Mac with a 64-bit processor. If you're currently running Growl 1.2.2 or earlier, prior to purchasing and downloading Growl 1.3 from the Mac App Store. Your preferences and settings should be untouched after running the uninstaller.