Microsoft: “All your dual ascending melodies are belong to us!”

Windows Vista startup logoMicrosoft in Australia has successfully filed a trademark application on the 24th of April for the Windows Vista melody you hear at startup – the one that took 18 months, 20 people and 500 choices to make. For those musically-talented geeks out there who were wondering what it was composed of, here it is.

The mark consists of the sound of dual ascending melodies played in parallel as 2-note chords E/B, G#/E, a brief rest, followed by two more 2-note chords B/F#, E/B where the initial notes are played two octaves above middle C, as represented in the musical score attached to the application.

Windows Vista melody score

You can thank me for this groundbreaking piece of journalism later. Quick, go try it out on your instruments!

11 insightful thoughts

  1. I would think that with all the money and time it took Microsoft to get Vista out the door, they would have at least made a better sound scheme.

  2. This is all about suppressing online satire. MS will use this law against anyone who publishes a youtube video, an mp3 or mashup because they’re so inwardly focused they can’t see that it would only help their cause.

    Is there any laughter in Redmond, outside of the paranoid giggles of overly stressed suits trying to keep their jobs? Compare that to the Apple commercials featuring Vista. Sad, so sad.

  3. @ Ian

    Wow, you seem to have a lot to get off your chest. You know… it’s just a startup sound and a trademark…

  4. Great entry Long! Very interesting! Incredible what Microsoft feels the need to trademark, eh?

    I read some really fascinating stuff about Brian Eno’s difficulties in creating the Windows 98 startup sound as well. He became obsessed with 3-second mini-songs and temporarily lost all interest in songs of ordinary length.

  5. It’s funny how you keep trying to find ways to make jokes on Apple’s behalf, Long. Funny because about a month ago, some throw-away PC mag in the UK published an article along the lines of “50 things that make PCs better than Apple”. One of their oh-so-terrible points was “You’re sitting on the train and you hear that god-awful ‘booonggggg’, and you know an Apple user has just started his laptop. Apple, in their infinite wisdom, weren’t content with a simple beep like we in the PC world have”

    Full. Fucking. Circle.

  6. @M:
    I’ll say the same thing along the lines of what Jonathan had said- You’ve seemed to get a lot off your chest… you know, it’s called Satire…

  7. I see all the production time, people involved, money spent and can’t help but thinking Microsoft was way too much money to throw around on useless stuff.

    The startup sound on a computer, like the startup noises on cellphones, is an in-your-face feature most people won’t figure out how to turn off even though they want to.

    Who cares if a “famous” musician helped make it? It sounds stupid. Just modify the XP sound, since Vista is just a modified XP.

  8. @ Scott C.
    It’s seems you never realiszed what is differrences between Vista and XP. The word you said is what i heard from basic/normal users who didn’t have deep knownlegde/understand on their PC and OS. For Vista I see differrences.

    Vista sound is lovely for me, some may said just a dump stuff. XP start up sound is terrible thing I never want.

    Hey, it’s just like Allchin said–to reminding you what’s going on or happend on your computer,– small sound which sending you message.

  9. nb – I think you are mad. So far comparing Vista to XP, I get the same answer as when I compared XP to 2000. All just cosmetic, and the few things that have been rewritten donot work properly.
    But back to the point…. I agree with Scott C, basically telling the world “I’m BRANDED”

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