Turn Google Voice into a Growl-Friendly Windows App [Webapps] - 5089th Edition

Earlier this month, we showed you how to load Google Voice as a stand-alone Fluid app with Growl notifications and a dock badge. One clever hacker figured out how to create much the same setup in Windows with Firefox.

The Thoughts and Rants blog details the steps needed to install three Firefox extensions—Greasemonkey, Growl/GNTP, and Reload Every—and then two scripts, Google Voice Growl and Google Voice notifications, to get Firefox in the habit of sending new voicemail and SMS message notifications to your Growl for Windows client.

This was my first time installing Growl for Windows, and on my Windows 7 system, I kept running into an “Error 2869″ when installing the .msi package, which the Google Voice post suggests is necessary. Anatoly Lubarsky’s blog post detailed the fix I needed, related to how Vista and 7 handle permissions for MSI installers. Open a command line as an administrator (Win+R, type cmd, right-click and choose “Run as Administrator”), then use this code to launch Growl’s installer:

msiexec /i "C:WindowsPathtowhereverGrowlfileis"

Be sure to substitute the correct location of your Growl installer, of course, rather than my joke-y directory tree.

I’m using the previously mentioned GVoice Favicon Alerts to keep Voice in a tiny, permanent browser tab, and new Voice messages seem to be activating Growl without auto-reloading enabled. If you’re seeing something different, or can suggest a more elegant setup, tell us about it in the comments.

By Kevin Purdy
Yaab