The blog Music Thing once did a short series of posts called "Tiny Music Makers" that gave some background to the creation process of famous small sounds.
My favorite quote from it, about the Intel Inside chimes:
In less than three seconds, they wanted "tones that evoked
innovation, trouble-shooting skills and the inside of a
computer, while also sounding corporate and inviting".
"Corporate and inviting" must have been the precursor to those fake processor plant campaigns they did back in the day. Those really made me feel like this company was a warm, loving bunch.
My favorite quote from it, about the Intel Inside chimes:
http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2005/05/all-this-week-tiny-mu...