Vista sounds
One topic that has come up occasionally during the tail portion of the Vista beta was around the sounds associated with the beta. For example, there is a "startup" sound, which initially the user would not be able to turn off, although the ability to turn it off was added in later releases. (This is often explained as a Mac-like "experience" item, although on the Mac you need to either mute your volume before you shut down or use a third-party add-on to turn the "chime" off. So even though we have a sound in Vista, at least it can be turned off. I'd hate to think what a 2000-PC call center would sound like at the start of a shift otherwise!)
Well, fast-forward to RTM. The sound experience has undergone some last minute additions, "surprises" if you will. This is enough of a pop-culture item that there was an NPR story about the Vista sounds on Morning Edition this morning. Windows team member Larry Osterman has a blog posting on this as well where he says:
I actually didn't think this would be a big deal. Shows you what little I know.
Indeed. I still remember hearing stories about the Windows 95 login sound in particular as being a very important part of the overall experience....