Rumor confirmed of startup sound in Vista

Earlier in the week there was a rumor claiming that the startup sound heard in Vista would not be customizable nor able to be disabled. Robert confirmed these reports today by speaking to Steve Ball, the program manager for the Windows Audio Video Excellence Team.

Though the claims are quoted as being “true, but with a number of extreme qualifications,” based on what Robert states, I don’t see them as being all that “extreme.”

I can understand the desire to create that audio imprint, but like Robert, I WANT FULL CONTROL OF MY MACHINE.

*IF* Microsoft was to create the hardware as well as the OS, then I could possibly see this desire to enforce the imprint. But in all reality, I don’t always want boot up tones of any kind signalling to everyone around that I’m booting up. Example:

Someone booting up their machine in the middle of a meeting, or within a classroom, or within a library. Having the ability to disable the startup sound would make it a LOT less disruptive in these environments.

There are times when the laptop is beside my bed. I wake in the morning, fire up the laptop and check mail while still in bed. WHY do I need to wake my wife just for the sake of Microsoft wanting to make their audio imprint?

Please Microsoft, provide advanced users the ability to disable this. Trust me… we KNOW who you are.

Technorati Tags: Scoble, Vista, Startup Sound