Version: (using KDE 4.4.1) Installed from: openSUSE RPMs I replaced notifications with colibri notifications http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php/Colibri?content=117147 before some months now, and am much happier and less disturbed now. My impression is, that if users could switch/test more easily (for example systemsettings only), most users would prefer colibri over the current notifications (some of my friends also do). I am a bit sad that in other case most users will never know, that such nice notifications for kde exist, and will have a worse kde experience.
Notifications are themable as part of the plasma theme, so there's no need to replace the default setitngs simply to satisfy subjective aesthetic preferences. :) Personally I think the Notifications in Plasma 5 after version 5.16 are quite nice looking. If you disagree, there are always themes. :)