Sound Server vs. Other Solutions?

[thully at umich.edu]

I realize that Ubuntu uses the GNOME sound server to allow multiple programs
to use the sound device at once.  However, this does have problems with many
programs not in the main distribution.  Yes, I realize these are unsupported,
but
many people use them and want to be able to use them.  Is it possible for an
alternate solution, which doesn't interfere with third party programs as much,
to be used in Hoary?  I know of dmixer and some other similar things that allow
multiple sounds, why not use something like this which is compatible with more
applications?