Take the 2-minute tour ×  I don't really understand why Ubuntu
has two "notification area" style things that seem to serve the
same functionality.  I can't use only one because some of the
programs seem to only work with Notification Area (e.g. Orage)
and some only work with Indicator Plugin (e.g. indicator-sound).
I noticed that the network manager applet will prefer to insert
itself into Indicator Plugin and if that isn't available, try
Notification Area.  I don't understand why we have/need both? Is
it normal to keep both running?  share|improve this question add
comment  1 Answer  up vote 2 down vote accepted  Is it normal?
Yes. Why? For the exact reason you've described: some things
don't support IA.  Notification Area is the older of the two
projects and it's been around since the crack of doom. Indicator
Applet sprung up a few years ago to address some design concerns
Canonical were having.  They work in fairly different ways so
it's not a drop-in replacement and never really can be. For
something to w