Windows 7 was released by Microsoft in 2009 as the successor to Windows Vista, and its startup chime became one of the most familiar operating system sounds of the following decade. The brief melodic motif accompanied millions of home, school and workplace computers starting up each day. As Windows 7 was gradually replaced by later versions, recordings of the chime spread online through nostalgia posts, tutorials and meme edits. It remains popular because it instantly identifies a specific era of personal computing without needing any explanation or on-screen text.