Windows XP was released by Microsoft in 2001, and its shutdown sound became one of the operating system's most recognisable audio cues as the system appeared on home and school computers around the world. As those machines were replaced, clips of the sound began circulating online in nostalgia videos, retro computing content and edits that used the chime as a shorthand for something ending. It remains popular because it is instantly familiar to a generation of computer users, even for people who no longer use the system itself.