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Microsoft panicked and pivoted. The "Memphis" project, which would become Windows 98, was originally a minor polish of Windows 95. After Nashville’s death, Memphis absorbed its corpse. The result was a series of rapid-fire beta builds in early 1998.
Testers using Beta 2.1 were finally able to plug in USB mice, keyboards, and early flash drives with a reasonable expectation of success. This build marked the beginning of the end for the legacy parallel and serial ports, heralding the "plug-and-play" future we take for granted today. windows 98 beta 2.1
This build introduced the "final" system sounds for Windows 98, including the iconic startup and shutdown themes, though some (like the shutdown sound) were slightly lower-pitched than the eventual retail versions. Multimedia & Web Integration: Microsoft panicked and pivoted