Growl 1.3, released Monday, boasts a number of changes, including new features and new rules for development. But its most significant change may be the fact the utility is now available from the Mac App Store--and the Mac App Store.

That change of venue required some shifts. For example, rather than visit System Preferences to adjust Growl's settings, as with earlier versions, you now simply launch the new Growl app. The Growl Project hopes this will, at least, partially solve the problem of confusing update reminders. All updates will instead be pushed through the Mac App Store's own mechanism.

Joining Apple's online store has also opened an avenue to sustained development of the product. The end-user edition of the software will be sold through the store for $2. "The general idea here is that we'll be able to fund Growl development going forward," said Growl project lead Christopher Forsythe. "The general conclusion we came to is that we need to fund development going forward or that Growl would likely stop being developed altogether."

There are less tangible benefits as well. The Mac App Store is a way for Growl to showcase its compliance with Lion's new sandboxing security technology, and, of course, the vetting process for being in the store in the first place. Both will help potential users understand that Growl is a safe application with explicit approval from Apple.