Windows Millennium Edition, usually shortened to Windows ME, was released by Microsoft in 2000 as the home-focused successor in the Windows 9x line. Its startup sound became one of the many distinctive boot chimes that marked the era before silent, instant-on devices. As retro computing videos, emulators and nostalgia accounts grew online, clips of old systems powering on were shared widely, and the ME chime resurfaced alongside sounds from Windows 95, 98 and XP. It remains popular as a quick audio shorthand for that specific period of personal computing.