Too many programs want to know the status of the user's presence, and they all
divine it differently and poorly.

Gaim/Gossip wants to know the user's status (away, extended away, do not
disturb), so that it can set the outgoing status message.

Gnomemeeting wants something similar (Available, Free For Chat, Busy, Forward),
as may IRC programs (away).

Xscreensaver wants to know when the user is away, for obvious reasons.

Rhythmbox may optionally stop playing tunes when the user is away from keyboard.

Evolution may have use for it too.

Games may pause, rwho may be updated, seti-at-home clients may resume.  Human
sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!

----

A framework for notification of presence changes would be very useful.

I heard a rumour from a friend of a friend who happens to use IRC that someone
is working on such behavior.  This bug is created to ensure that it's not a
bogus rumour, and as a statement that I volunteer to assist whomever may be
working on it.  (Contact me, please, whoever you are.)

This bug was suggested by my own displeasure with the state of things and
galvanized into being by reading a patch to Gossip that very often checks to see
if xscreensaver has grabbed the screen, a rather nasty hack, in my opinion, but
possibly the best we can muster under the current circumstances.