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The Vista Startup Sound: You Can't Turn It Off
DownloadSquad ^ | 8/25

Posted on 09/01/2006 8:00:46 AM PDT by steve-b

Hmm, this is interesting. According to prominent former Microsoftie Robert Scoble, Microsoft's current plan is to make the Windows Vista startup sound a) unchangeable and b) unmutable. The reason for "a" is branding. Having a unified startup sound on all Vista PCs serves Microsoft well, and Microsoft's Steve Ball says users will benefit....

(Excerpt) Read more at downloadsquad.com ...


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KEYWORDS: microsoft; microsuck; pest; vista
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To: Billthedrill
"...It wouldn't be the first time a marketeer left the engineering department with bruise marks on his throat..."

LOL! Those wouldn't happen to be your fingerprints, whould they?

61 posted on 09/01/2006 9:17:26 AM PDT by shorty_harris
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To: jude24
For those of us who do not have the skills, the time, or the inclination to do so, Linux is still a very poor choice, and we're stuck, for better or worse, with either OS X or Windows.

Why? Linux is no more difficult than Windows or Apple. It's different, sure. It requires the user to learn different ways of doing things, but it's as easy, if not easier, to do everything you need to do as Windows.

62 posted on 09/01/2006 9:26:26 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce
It requires the user to learn different ways of doing things, but it's as easy, if not easier, to do everything you need to do as Windows.

I will admit my last experience with Red Hat Linux was a long time ago, but that certainly wasn't my experience. I couldn't get the darned RPM's to work.

63 posted on 09/01/2006 9:32:54 AM PDT by jude24 ("I will oppose the sword if it's not wielded well, because my enemies are men like me.")
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To: jude24

Yeah. RH definitely had RPM troubles. But now, Fedora has a tool called yum that will solve all those issues automatically. It's nice.


64 posted on 09/01/2006 9:35:14 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

On a notebook that means inserting a dummy plug into the audio output jack.


65 posted on 09/01/2006 9:35:28 AM PDT by Erasmus (It takes branes to make an alternate universe!)
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To: jude24

For me, Linux is MUCH better...

Besides not having to pay for the operating system, I don't have to pay for the "office suite", or put up with a downgraded "works" office.

I don't have the time to put up with Microsoft frustration, and to work on filling up all their security holes.

I've been running Linux without ANY virus or spyware protection for two years, only a hardware firewall/router. NO problems at all.

It is worth it to convert to Linux... which is getting better and better.

I suggest people try "Knoppix" ... an operating system that boots up from CD (or DVD) to see if Linux might suit them. That does not change their computer at all! Good for a "test drive". Then that they obtain and install one of the several excellent flavors: Fedora, Linspire (apparently good for laptops right now), Mandriva, etc. in a "dual-boot" environment, so they can switch between MS and their Linux, as I have. It has now been over a year since I've logged into the MS operating systems on any of my computers.


66 posted on 09/01/2006 9:35:32 AM PDT by AFPhys ((.Praying for President Bush, our troops, their families, and all my American neighbors..))
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To: ShadowAce
Yeah. RH definitely had RPM troubles. But now, Fedora has a tool called yum that will solve all those issues automatically. It's nice.

I've heard good things about Ubuntu, too. If I had an old desktop lingering around that I could use, I'd probably install something like that and set it up as a glorified server from which to automate backups from my laptop. But, for now, I have a good Mac laptop that does everything I need, including runs Windows when I need that.

67 posted on 09/01/2006 9:40:20 AM PDT by jude24 ("I will oppose the sword if it's not wielded well, because my enemies are men like me.")
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To: AFPhys
...or put up with a downgraded "works" office.

I saw this article a couple of days ago.

Here's the link to OpenOffice Premium

68 posted on 09/01/2006 9:40:57 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: TomGuy
I bet a 12-year-old computer nerd will find a way to turn it off within 12 hour of the release.

Only if his mother makes him go to sleep on release night--otherwise it'll be 15 minutes.

69 posted on 09/01/2006 9:42:41 AM PDT by BeHoldAPaleHorse ( ~()):~)>)
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To: daviddennis
I wonder about the branding value of the startup sound.

There isn't any. To have branding value, you have to heat the iron up until it's red-hot.

70 posted on 09/01/2006 9:43:48 AM PDT by BeHoldAPaleHorse ( ~()):~)>)
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To: steve-b

Macs used to do this; do they still?


71 posted on 09/01/2006 9:44:37 AM PDT by LiberationIT
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To: AFPhys
Besides not having to pay for the operating system, I don't have to pay for the "office suite", or put up with a downgraded "works" office.

OpenOffice runs on Windows, and on the Mac via X11. I use OpenOffice when I need to open a WordPerfect file (Gack! WordPerfect makes MS Word look like a pillar of excellence.)

I've been running Linux without ANY virus or spyware protection for two years, only a hardware firewall/router. NO problems at all

When I was running Windows XP, my firewall and virus software were precautionary. I haven't gotten a virus in six or seven years. On my Mac, I've debated taking the AntiVirus off since there are precisely zero known viruses for OS X.

It has now been over a year since I've logged into the MS operating systems on any of my computers.

I keep Windows around for a legacy application I have to run, and for poorly designed websites that require Internet Explorer.

72 posted on 09/01/2006 9:44:54 AM PDT by jude24 ("I will oppose the sword if it's not wielded well, because my enemies are men like me.")
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To: LiberationIT

Yes. They still do the chord on startup. It's in the BIOS, so even when I'm starting Windows via BootCamp, you still hear the Mac chord.


73 posted on 09/01/2006 9:48:57 AM PDT by jude24 ("I will oppose the sword if it's not wielded well, because my enemies are men like me.")
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To: jdm
Upon installation, Vista creates little tiny, unattachable, undeleteable speakers inside of your hard drive.

Somebody actually made hard drive speakers.

74 posted on 09/01/2006 9:52:02 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: Erasmus
On a notebook that means inserting a dummy plug into the audio output jack.

On my Thinkpad it means pressing the mute button next to the up/down volume buttons.

75 posted on 09/01/2006 10:14:40 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam Factoid:After forcing young girls to watch his men execute their fathers, Muhammad raped them.)
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To: shorty_harris
You could also replace it with a silent .wav file...

Be careful not to create a silent wav file that is 3 minutes 33 seconds long, else RIAA will be banging down your door for unauthorized use of a copyrighted song.

Can't remember the fellow who "recorded" 3/33, but he passed on recently. IIRC, he also wrote a "symphany" that is supposed to take a couple of hundred years to play. 

76 posted on 09/01/2006 10:23:46 AM PDT by zeugma (I reject your reality and substitute my own in its place. (http://www.zprc.org/))
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To: ShadowAce
a tool called yum that will solve all (most) of those issues automatically

A little truth in advertizing from the Linux World Domination GroupTM. I use FC3/FC4/FC5, and still occasionally have issues with unresolved yum dependencies. It doesn't happen often though, and is normally because I'm trying to install geeky software.

My wife and MIL both use Linux and they have less issues in general than they used to have with Windoze.

77 posted on 09/01/2006 10:29:05 AM PDT by zeugma (I reject your reality and substitute my own in its place. (http://www.zprc.org/))
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To: zeugma
 "symphany"

Geez, I can spell better than that.

"symphony"

78 posted on 09/01/2006 11:07:28 AM PDT by zeugma (I reject your reality and substitute my own in its place. (http://www.zprc.org/))
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To: steve-b

The Vista startup sound was designed by Robert Fripp. It may be the only good thing in the whole operating system.


79 posted on 09/01/2006 11:32:12 AM PDT by HAL9000 (Happy 10th Anniversary FreeRepublic.com - Est. Sept. 23, 1996 - Thanks Jim!)
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To: jude24
OpenOffice runs on Windows, and on the Mac via X11.

The native version of OpenOffice for Mac OS X will be released next month, so X11 won't be required.

80 posted on 09/01/2006 11:41:34 AM PDT by HAL9000 (Happy 10th Anniversary FreeRepublic.com - Est. Sept. 23, 1996 - Thanks Jim!)
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