Drupal State Machines, usage and alternatives

Question

Do "State Machines" used in Workflow-NG module (D5) have any visual interface (in node form or whatever)? Or they are totally internal entities that I can only set and evaluate? The initial objective behind question was to send emails based on changed node status (taxonomy based).

If these State Machines are cumbersome, I can probably refuse from then in favour of custom module tracking node changes.

Answer 1

There does not appear to be any kind of UI for them today. However, it shouldn't be too much work to get something like graphiz to build them for you.