Microsoft commissioned Eno to create a piece that was "inspiring, universal, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, [and] emotional," with the strict constraint that it must be exactly 3.25 seconds long. Eno described the process of meeting these 50-odd adjectives in such a short window as "making a tiny little jewel". Paradoxically, he composed the sound for the Windows operating system using a Mac, as he "never used a PC" in his life at that time. Finding and Using MIDI Files

"It's a very interesting job," Eno told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1996. "I thought it would be fun... I wrote about 84 pieces of music. The one that was chosen, I’d written on a Mac."

The rumor claims this was an internal Microsoft test file used to demonstrate General MIDI Level 2 capabilities. According to the legend, the file doesn't try to copy the WAV; instead, it deconstructs the melody using a string quartet and a French horn.