Comment 16 for bug 840777

I hear you, mpt. Startup sounds (drums / orca) are interesting problems, particularly if a11y is involved. You almost want an a11y setting that says "on startup, always use X volume."

I still don't understand your A/B scenario problem. Using the behavior from the bug description (and my branches), the following will happen:
- A logs out with volume at 100%, greeter shows volume at 100%
- B sits down, switches to their account, greeter switches sound to muted status
- B logs in, gets muted session

You say you talked to John about this, but don't mention if there was a consensus reached. The design plan of record is what I described above and this bug description outline. I don't have a dog in this race, I just want to fix this problem one way or the other.

Another point to mention here is SilentMode. Matthew, you describe wanting volume/mute to be system wide. I'm guessing you would like to make SilentMode that way too? (harder technically, but seems semantically related to mute)