Newest Vista lets you turn off chimes

I'm sure Microsoft had no clue what a fuss would be raised when it made the Vista start-up chime a permanent feature. It probably makes even less sense to the company that people actually took this forced auditory experience as an insult to their consumer intelligence. And to Redmond, all I can say is, "I don't get it, either, guys...but at least you fixed it."

That's right - end the controversy, lick your wounds, and fly the victory flag if you were part of this group. Microsoft has heard you as clearly as you heard that stupid chime, and has now made it able to be disabled. For those who have started to toy with Vista build 5728, you can find the option right where you'd expect it - in Control Panel, under "Startup Sound."

The controversy over this (as yet undecided) startup sound was so great, the Product Manager of Vista, Nick White, wrote an entry regarding it in his Vista Team blog. "We heard you loud and clear when it came to discussing our plans to include a default start-up sound that plays as you boot-up Windows Vista. You said you wanted to have the opportunity to mute it if and when you felt it necessary."

This version of Vista does not allow the sound to be changed, mind you. There is currently no discussion as to that, since the sound itself is not even finalised yet. One would expect, however, that if Microsoft doesn't include it, someone else will. It might even show up as a Power Toy one day.

So does this finally put this controversy to rest? Tell us about it in our forums.