Labor Day and Startup Sounds
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Labor Day and Startup Sounds
Today is Labor Day in the US. It's a day to remember that it's been lots of hard work that has built the US, and many other countries. It's one of the few holidays that doesn't remember war or religon in some way.
It also marks the end of summer, back to school, and one last celebration in good weather. Enjoy your day off if you get it.
The other thing that caught my eye is the debate on the Vista startup sound. Robert Scoble sounds off here and withholds judgement on the outcome. He presents a decent summary, but not much backing on either side. There's also a debate on Slashdot with some good points mixed in with all the droll M$ bashing.
I'll offer my opinions. The world of Windows users is changing. In many cases this means that more and more computers are being used in non-traditional places, classrooms, cafes, meetings, courts, etc. as more laptops are deployed. This means that forcing a startup sound will cause numerous interuptions. Possibly to the point that people seriously consider other OSs or stop rebooting or starting their laptops in places that they might otherwise do so.
Let me give you a place this has backfired. I have some DVDs thay my kids like. Most of them have some previews and lots of times it's nice to see scenes from other movies. Often the kids enjoy them and laugh.
But sometimes they're really annoying. And even worse, there's a few that disable the skipping forward while the preview is playing. In particular one has a 3-4 minute intro for Madagascar with interviews that my kids don't like, but we can't skip past it. It's almost to the point where the kids don't want to watch the movie because that 3-4 minutes is anonoying.
Microsoft doesn't need to follow Sony, or even their own XBOX group. This is a completely different product. Make this an option. Lots of people still have a startup sound on their Windows PC and won't change defaults. That's ok and it is a nice branding for Windows. Everyone knows the startup and shutdown sounds from Windows 95 by heart and I'm sure the Vista sounds will get known just as well.
But don't force this on people forever. Some people just don't want the sounds on. Some will like the sound and then disable it and some will leave it forever. Microsoft has been all about "Where Do You Want To Go Today?".
Let us continue to choose that and don't force us to go where you want us to.
Steve Jones
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Too true.
Particularly on laptops, this can be very irritating. It's the same as cell phones - if you're surreptitiously switching on your phone in a quiet environment and trying not to disturb anybody, the last thing you want is a loud and obnoxious welcome tone... which is, of course, why Nokia allows you the option of switching it off!
Same thing firing up your laptop in a library, lecture theatre or even a coffee shop.
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C8H10N4O2
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The added problem, of course, is that most laptops do not have an external volume control which works until the OS has booted up. My Toshiba does, and I love it, but it's very much in the minority. Same problem on PC's with internal speakers.
And yes, you can plug in headphones, or mute your PC before shutting it down, but the point is that you shouldn't have to! It's a pointless irritation, which will only become more annoying if you want it off and can't do anything about it. And then, even if it's the most beautiful sound on Earth, it'll grate your eardrums every time you hear it.
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C8H10N4O2
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