UsmanSial
Senator (1k+ posts)
The story behind the famous Windows XP ‘Bliss’ wallpaper
‘Bliss,’ which is perhaps the most famous desktop wallpaper, is the real deal, according to the man who took the picture.
You may not know the name Charles O'Rear, but if you've used a PC in the last decade, you're familiar with his photo.
‘Bliss,’ which is perhaps the most famous desktop wallpaper, is the real deal, according to the man who took the picture.
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.
To mark the end of the Windows XP era —Windows stopped offering support for it on April 8 — Microsoft made a video about O'Rear and his famous snapshot.
Charles (Chuck) O'Rear, a former National Geographic photographer, snapped the famous picture after a storm.
He later sold the image Corbis, which was actually started by Bill Gates, to be used as stock art, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
This is what the hillside in California looked like when Microsoft filmed the video.
Carriers wouldn't accept the liability of transporting the original photograph because of the undisclosed value Microsoft put on it, so the company eventually sent O'Rear a plane ticket so he could deliver it in person.
"I had no idea where it was going to go," he said.
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