Am I missing anything, or can most of this be driven into #startUp methods?:

SmalltalkImage >> setPlatformPreferences
   "Set some platform specific preferences on system startup"
    | platform specs |
    Preferences automaticPlatformSettings ifFalse:[^self].
    SoundPlayer soundQuickStart: SoundPlayer defaultQuickStartForPlatform.
    SoundPlayer stopSoundWhenDone: SoundPlayer defaultStopSoundForPlatform.
    platform := self platformName.
    specs := #().
    platform = 'Win32' ifTrue:[
        specs := #()].
    platform = 'Mac OS' ifTrue:[
        specs := #()].
    specs do:[:tuple|
        Preferences setPreference: tuple first toValue: (tuple last == true).
    ].

In particular, it looks like SoundPlayer >> #startUp would be a good
place to put

Preferences automaticPlatformSettings ifTrue: [
    SoundPlayer soundQuickStart: SoundPlayer defaultQuickStartForPlatform.
    SoundPlayer stopSoundWhenDone: SoundPlayer defaultStopSoundForPlatform].

The rest of #setPlatformPreferences is a giant no-op, but it's a giant
no-op that shows the structure one would need to follow if we needed
per-platform specs, at least. (Although my strong preference would
still be to drive this kind've stuff into packages' #startUp methods.)

frank