thoughtcrumbs

Windows startup sound

One thing that bugged me at CHI was the frequency of the "Hey! I'm using Windows and starting up my laptop now! Everybody look at me!" chime, especially in otherwise politely quiet sessions. Like the Nokia ring that some of my friends still have on their cells (Hannah!), the Windows startup sound reeks of free advertising. Most likely, many of the guilty parties were borrowing laptops and because volume controls aren't always external or obvious, they were embarrassed for the conference faux pas. But the default settings on a system shouldn't be so poorly designed that they routinely embarrass technical professionals.