The 73-year-old photog is the man behind the tranquil image of a rolling hill and bright blue sky that served as the default background for Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system.

Windows XP shipped with a version measuring just 800 by 600 pixels. Anywho, Inside History has a series of follow up images taken from the same vantage point in 2006, 2020, 2024 and 2025.

The photo you see above -- the default wallpaper for Windows XP -- is probably the most recognizable image in the world. What you probably didn't know is that it's a real photo, called Bliss ...

Past ugly sweaters have included a Minesweeper motif, MS Paint, the Windows logo, and the immortal Clippy. Microsoft's ugly sweater site also has wallpapers and a few other retro Easter eggs for ...

User icon Login; A ... What's the name of the landscape wallpaper that was a default on Windows XP? Majesty. Bliss. ... in the world when it was set as the default desktop background in Windows XP.

Everyone has seen the Windows XP desktop image called Bliss. It’s been ubiquitous for 13 years. And you’ve probably always thought that the serene hillside is kind of corny and probably fake.

The famous Windows XP wallpaper, "Bliss," captured in 1996, looks drastically different today—here’s how the iconic landscape has changed over time.

The Windows XP wallpaper pictures “Bliss” hill in Sonoma, Calif., as captured by photographer Charles O’Rear. He uploaded the photo, which he took in 1996, to a stock photo agency he helped ...

Microsoft bought the image in 2000 and started shipping it with Windows XP a year later. Given the operating system's popularity and longevity, it is believed to be one of the most viewed ...