Vista beta testers mad about forced startup sound

August 23, 2006 By

Folks testing Microsoft Windows Vista have been emailing me today complaining that in Vista the startup sound that goes off everytime the OS starts up will be forced.

Today in Windows XP you can turn off the startup sound, but from what the beta testers have been told that startup sound will be forced to stay on.

I’ll call Steve Ball tomorrow (he runs the audio team) to find out if he can clarify this. Translation: I have not gotten Microsoft’s side of the story on this one. Will let you know when I hear from them.

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  • http://rudd-o.com/ Rudd-O

    And considering the amount of times WV has to be restarted at this stage (I’m holding my harsher comments for Vista RTM), I guess this must be *really* annoying!
    :-)

  • http://rudd-o.com/ Rudd-O

    And considering the amount of times WV has to be restarted at this stage (I’m holding my harsher comments for Vista RTM), I guess this must be *really* annoying!
    :-)

  • http://rss.monroe-kc.com/ James M.

    Actually I have noticed it goes off twice. Once when you start the machine and once when you login. Maybe they should change the sound. Something soothing with hidden messages.

  • http://rss.monroe-kc.com James M.

    Actually I have noticed it goes off twice. Once when you start the machine and once when you login. Maybe they should change the sound. Something soothing with hidden messages.

  • http://www.casperize.com/ Stefano Nurchi

    If they’ll force the startup jingle to stay on, we’ll force it to stay off. Period.

  • http://www.casperize.com Stefano Nurchi

    If they’ll force the startup jingle to stay on, we’ll force it to stay off. Period.

  • http://www.jamieplucinski.com/ Jamie Plucinski

    It’s true, the startup sound that plays when you login can be disabled, but for some rather idiotic reason MSFT have made the startup sound play when the Windows Welcome (Logon) screen appears also.

  • http://www.jamieplucinski.com Jamie Plucinski

    It’s true, the startup sound that plays when you login can be disabled, but for some rather idiotic reason MSFT have made the startup sound play when the Windows Welcome (Logon) screen appears also.

  • http://collingrady.com/ Collin

    When you talk to him, if it turns out that this is currently planned, make sure he knows it’s a very, very bad idea :)

  • http://collingrady.com/ Collin

    When you talk to him, if it turns out that this is currently planned, make sure he knows it’s a very, very bad idea :)

  • http://trix-rox.spaces.live.com/ Brandon

    Yeah I noticed people freaking out about this. I personally am more upset about not getting a Vista build in forever, considering 5472 is pretty much useless to me because of Wireless Network issues that were fixed in builds after that :( I want to test Vista, but I do not want to use older bits.

  • http://trix-rox.spaces.live.com Brandon

    Yeah I noticed people freaking out about this. I personally am more upset about not getting a Vista build in forever, considering 5472 is pretty much useless to me because of Wireless Network issues that were fixed in builds after that :( I want to test Vista, but I do not want to use older bits.

  • http://www.radioactivecode.com/ Diego

    Looks like the startup sound isn’t the only problem with Vista.

    http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=1110083YRM69

  • http://www.radioactivecode.com Diego

    Looks like the startup sound isn’t the only problem with Vista.

    http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=1110083YRM69

  • http://jimmymespanablog.blogspot.com/ Jimmy M. Espana

    Interesting topic. Take care.

  • http://jimmymespanablog.blogspot.com/ Jimmy M. Espana

    Interesting topic. Take care.

  • http://schwabe.wordpress.com/ Adam

    I’m amazed that Podtech is cool with you fielding Microsoft’s customer concerns still, even more so by the amount of promotion you give Microsoft every day in your posts. Yes, Podtech are not their competitors, but it still strikes me as odd.

  • http://schwabe.wordpress.com/ Adam

    I’m amazed that Podtech is cool with you fielding Microsoft’s customer concerns still, even more so by the amount of promotion you give Microsoft every day in your posts. Yes, Podtech are not their competitors, but it still strikes me as odd.

  • http://www.zoliblog.com/ Zoli Erdos

    Oh, for God’s sake it can’t possibly be by design… It’s a beta, and with Microsoft’s so-called stable products being so buggy, what do you expect? Just be happy it doesn’t force an automatic reboot every 30 minutes :-)

  • http://www.zoliblog.com Zoli Erdos

    Oh, for God’s sake it can’t possibly be by design… It’s a beta, and with Microsoft’s so-called stable products being so buggy, what do you expect? Just be happy it doesn’t force an automatic reboot every 30 minutes :-)

  • http://cholt.net/ Cory

    this seems pretty simple and a stupid thing to be worrying about considering vista is how far behind it’s competitors? considering how many exploits they need to fix? i can go on and on. but worrying about whether or not a sound clip is played seems pretty stupid considering all there is yet to be done on the OS

    now, dont get me wrong, that would be annoying.

  • http://cholt.net Cory

    this seems pretty simple and a stupid thing to be worrying about considering vista is how far behind it’s competitors? considering how many exploits they need to fix? i can go on and on. but worrying about whether or not a sound clip is played seems pretty stupid considering all there is yet to be done on the OS

    now, dont get me wrong, that would be annoying.

  • http://www.darrenbarefoot.com dbarefoot

    Let me second Cory’s message–let’s get some perspective. We’re talking about an aesthetic triviality, here. I want to know if my OS is secure and stable, not whether I control the ‘ding’ I hear when it starts up.

  • http://www.darrenbarefoot.com Darren

    Let me second Cory’s message–let’s get some perspective. We’re talking about an aesthetic triviality, here. I want to know if my OS is secure and stable, not whether I control the ‘ding’ I hear when it starts up.

  • Patrick Jakubowski

    I highly doubt this functionality is final considering they are still using the XP startup sounds. Clearly they are planning on doing something different in future builds.

  • Patrick Jakubowski

    I highly doubt this functionality is final considering they are still using the XP startup sounds. Clearly they are planning on doing something different in future builds.

  • Christopher Coulter

    Trivial, and not final (unless they are truly sadistic), but yet more Vista woes and bad PR, Beta 2 was a trainwreck and they will need to cycle in a new round I’d bet, and delay it even further and then the Corps will wait 12-18 months before deploying, this with all the features, most wanted half cut. And what after Vista? Will my grandkids still be using XP?

    I still find it funny, once Microsoft stopped shipping OS software, they invited in the bloggers. ;)

  • Christopher Coulter

    Trivial, and not final (unless they are truly sadistic), but yet more Vista woes and bad PR, Beta 2 was a trainwreck and they will need to cycle in a new round I’d bet, and delay it even further and then the Corps will wait 12-18 months before deploying, this with all the features, most wanted half cut. And what after Vista? Will my grandkids still be using XP?

    I still find it funny, once Microsoft stopped shipping OS software, they invited in the bloggers. ;)

  • http://www.steveball.com/ Steve Ball

    Hey Robert – I look fwd to providing juicy (translation: actually rather mundane) details tomorrow! :)

    best wishes,
    -Steve

  • http://www.steveball.com Steve Ball

    Hey Robert – I look fwd to providing juicy (translation: actually rather mundane) details tomorrow! :)

    best wishes,
    -Steve

  • mttsmnw

    Ok, so they did copy another thing from the Mac:
    You can’t turn off the startup sound on a mac either….

  • mttsmnw

    Ok, so they did copy another thing from the Mac:
    You can’t turn off the startup sound on a mac either….

  • met

    You can turn it off mttsmnw, if you mute the sound before you log off ;) Probably Redmond never caught that.

  • met

    You can turn it off mttsmnw, if you mute the sound before you log off ;) Probably Redmond never caught that.

  • Matt Emery

    AS much as it sucks, couldn’t you just replace the wav file with a silent wav file? (I know it’s not the point here, but it’s a suggestion for those desperate to lose the sound).

  • Matt Emery

    AS much as it sucks, couldn’t you just replace the wav file with a silent wav file? (I know it’s not the point here, but it’s a suggestion for those desperate to lose the sound).

  • freddie

    @Christopher – how do you figure beta 2 is a trainwreck? I’ve been running it for 2 months and think it is great. The issues I have had are pretty minor – it’s a BETA y’know…

  • freddie

    @Christopher – how do you figure beta 2 is a trainwreck? I’ve been running it for 2 months and think it is great. The issues I have had are pretty minor – it’s a BETA y’know…

  • suresh kumar

    well if there was ever a need for another reason to switch from a PC to a Mac…

    this is it!!

  • suresh kumar

    well if there was ever a need for another reason to switch from a PC to a Mac…

    this is it!!

  • http://jornbovee.wordpress.com/ Jorn!

    Yeah… Windows sucks ass!

  • http://jornbovee.wordpress.com/ Jorn!

    Yeah… Windows sucks ass!

  • Samuel

    I’m sure there is or will be some way to disable this feature, I mean think of how many features there are in windows xp that can be diabled (if you have the time or can be bothered enough to).

    But whether or not that is allowed by MS is a different matter.

    Funny thing what “mttsmnw” said about how they did copy another feature off the mac. indeed! how dare someone even suggest that! (I didn’t say that, that was MS talking:D )

  • Samuel

    I’m sure there is or will be some way to disable this feature, I mean think of how many features there are in windows xp that can be diabled (if you have the time or can be bothered enough to).

    But whether or not that is allowed by MS is a different matter.

    Funny thing what “mttsmnw” said about how they did copy another feature off the mac. indeed! how dare someone even suggest that! (I didn’t say that, that was MS talking:D )

  • http://www.raindropper.com/ Tomi Itkonen

    Does MS really run their beta testers’ feedback through a Scobleizer distortion DSP effect unit?

    Sorry, could not resist. Take care.

  • http://www.raindropper.com Tomi Itkonen

    Does MS really run their beta testers’ feedback through a Scobleizer distortion DSP effect unit?

    Sorry, could not resist. Take care.

  • S

    I don’t get it. Why force the sound?

  • S

    I don’t get it. Why force the sound?

  • http://ageofbs.wordpress.com/ J

    Par for the course.

  • http://ageofbs.wordpress.com/ J

    Par for the course.

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