# TIL Brian Eno composed the Windows 95 startup sound



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

*The Microsoft Sound*


> In 1994, Microsoft corporation designers Mark Malamud and Erik Gavriluk approached Brian Eno to compose music for the Windows 95 project. The result was the six-second start-up music-sound of the Windows 95 operating system, The Microsoft Sound. In an interview with Joel Selvin in the San Francisco Chronicle he said:
> The idea came up at the time when I was completely bereft of ideas. I'd been working on my own music for a while and was quite lost, actually. And I really appreciated someone coming along and saying, "Here's a specific problem - solve it."
> The thing from the agency said, "We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional," this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said "and it must be 31/4 seconds long."[† 1]
> I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It's like making a tiny little jewel.
> ...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno#The_Microsoft_Sound

Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Sound


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