Vista start-up music compulsory
Found on The Inquirer on Saturday, 02 September 2006
The almighty vole has decided that guitarist Robert Fripp's work on the opening tune for Vista is so good, it will be compulsory and won't be able to be switched off.
Steve Ball, group program manager for the Windows Audio Video Excellence team told punters that Windows Vista should present a "common, and beautiful, face to the world." In other words, Microsoft has spent shedloads on its corporate image and you are darn well going to appreciate it.
Ball said that there will be a pre-wired sound that plays when the system is ready for you to logon which will be non-customisable, just like the X-Box. He said that there was no big deal about it. Sony and Toshiba both have compulsory sounds.
The stupid startup sound is amongst the first things I change after a Windows installation. It seems like this is their idea of whacking the sound of their brand into users; the reasoning for forcing a default sound which you can only mute with the volume control of your speakers is so weak: the sound will tell you when your Vista is ready. Well hello, when I hear my custom sound I know this too. It's not like people can only hear MS approved sounds. But then I'm quite sure that a few people soon will find a way around this.