FYI, Windows guidelines say that you should blink the item in the task bar when you need to alert the user.

>>While I agree completely that blinking text can be obnoxious, I can also see a use for it under certain situations. For exmaple, on a machine control syustem to bring attention to an extremely dangerous situation causing a serious potential safety hazard one might blink the message for a period of time and then settle it down to non-blinking while also sounding a audible alarm as well.
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>>The problem with these types of issue is not absolute but rather the degree to which it is used (or overused)
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>Agreed. It is a good example of one of the few instances where it might be useful.