Former Microsoft blogger and spokesman Robert Scoble has published an entry on his Blog page describing a conversation with Steve Ball, group program manager for the Windows Audio Video Excellence team.

"Before I left Microsoft, I got an intimate view of the process that Microsoft is going through in finding the startup sound (famous guitarist Robert Fripp was working on it). The idea here (to both paraphrase Steve, and pass along the goals here that I learned) is that Windows Vista should present a common, and beautiful, face to the world. I could go more into it (I think what they are trying to do will be apparent in the shipping release, but isn't quite there yet - even the new sound isn't in current builds)," wrote Scoble.

The controversial aspect concerning the Windows Vista start-up sound has been confirmed, the non-customizable pre-wired sound playing when the operating system is fully functional and ready for user logon will not provide an option to be turned off.

Just as Sony and Toshiba have embedded sounds to individualize their brands so will Microsoft customize the Vista branding experience and the only manner to mute it will be to turn off the speakers. The trademark piece of media aims to be synonym with the Vista experience and to integrate the OS into the everyday user ambient.