[ubuntu-art] Logout sound

[Troy James Sobotka]

On Mon, 2006-09-10 at 17:04 -0500, Matthew Nuzum wrote:
> Oh boy... apparently your inbox wasn't clogged up with this bug.
> 
> Apparently, Edgy can now shutdown so fast, that many people only get a
> moment before the computer shuts off.
> 
> The 50 - 500ms sound is a concession so that users get some type of
> positive feedback indicating the computer has shut down normally.
> 
> This is an improvement over the other two options which were:
>  a: truncated sound
>  b: no sound at all

I've been right along with you on those bug reports.

The question is, even though the shutdown is 
more speedy, does the sound provide more than 
a simple 'positive feedback'?

I was discussing this earlier with cbx33 in IRC:
 * In the Precambrian era of computers (Apple ][
   circa 1979) there were no startup / shutdown sounds.
 * In the Dark Ages there were sounds and splashes
   added to hide the bootup process of applications.
 * Sounds get more complicated as the technology
   allows.  Transition effects take a foreground
   seat, etc.  Suddenly the relatively ephemeral
   bits start taking centre stage.

If you follow this trend, you might be able to draw
quite a good analogy to the history of cinema or 
like realm.  This would imply that the immersion
factor is _increasing_ as the tech permits.

The begging question is, do the sounds add to this
immersion factor as they do in cinema?  I would argue
that they do, and therefore are functional unto 
themselves.

Perhaps being on the edge of future operating construction
should dictate that we think these concepts through
before implementing design decisions?

While one could argue the "Don't do something simply
because you can" approach, the inverse might also apply.

Let's face it, if we stuck to the purest "It only needs to
do this..." approach, _everyone_ would be using Mutt;
Apple OSx wouldn't be lauded for transitional effects;
much attention to the Vista startup sound wouldn't be 
happening; operating systems wouldn't have evolved past
the earliest CLI driven systems.

Design matters on _many_ levels.

Sincerely,
TJS


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