Drey's portrayal of spell sense is how I've always envisioned it as well. The fact that not even the skill that does what we're putting on the plate for party combat status though is a big detractor from the argument for current castings being added. The information we're looking to add, as I stated earlier, could be gathered in large part from the idea that each player is aware of their surroundings or by conceptualized communication.
Communication could also be used here. In truth, there's nothing to stop me from using my client's alias feature to both cast *6 mass heal and say on the party line "I'm casting: Mass Heal" at the same time. What this means is that we can find easy scenarios in which it would be possible to be aware of what allies are casting without spell sense, as long as we were present when the person's party chat went out.
I think that is sufficient grounds to rekindle the argument that spells currently being cast should be considered as a status updated by party combat status, though not enough by a long shot to cement its presence in the as-yet-unpromised-command.
