Windows XP’s iconic Bliss background, which shows a green hill overlooking a sunny blue sky, was one of the main decors of computer rooms and offices in the 2000s; An image so clear that it seemed unreal. But where is the origin of this famous background and who took the photo?
This image was the default background for PCs running Windows XP between 2001 and 2007. While many may assume that this is a fake or photoshopped image, it turns out that it was actually taken outside of Sonoma, north of San Francisco, California.
This photo, which has been viewed by more than 1 billion people, was created by Charles O’Rourke Taken on a Friday afternoon in January 1996, the photographer (Charles O’Rear) snapped the photo while driving to meet his future wife, and says the photo was never edited and was sold to Microsoft as is. became. Since then, this image has appeared everywhere from homes to offices and even the White House and the Kremlin.
Windows XP was used by hundreds of millions of people when it was first released and was praised by critics for its ease of use. Finally, this operating system was replaced by other systems such as Windows Vista and Windows 2008, as well as the arrival of Apple’s MacBook in 2006. Today, about 0.1% of all computers in the world still use this system. According to reports, famous figures who still use it include Vladimir Putin.
Charles Aurier, who still lives in Napa Valley near the iconic hill, said of how he captured the image: “There’s a time of year north of San Francisco when the grass turns green after it rains, and I knew there was a good chance I’d find these beautiful hills. ยป
“At that time, every Friday afternoon, I would visit my fiance near San Francisco,” he explained. On that particular day in January, I was driving down this small winding road and saw this scene. I thought to myself, God, how wonderful the grass is; Green, the sun is shining and there are some clouds in the sky. Maybe there were no clouds at that moment when I saw the view. “Maybe the clouds appeared after I parked the car and set up the camera, because things were changing so quickly at that point.”
Mr. Aurier said he took four photos of the hill that day with his analog camera, which was later purchased by Microsoft. He didn’t disclose the price of the photos, but we do know they were so expensive that no regular postal service like FedEx could move them at the time, and Aurier had to personally deliver them to the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
This photo was taken with a Mamiya RZ67 camera with Fuji color film and a tripod. Despite the claims of image color enhancement, Aurier claims that this is not the case and that he used a Fuji film that could have helped improve and enhance colors.
He said about the impact of this image: “I had no idea it was going to have such a fate. I imagine that the engineers or anyone involved in the creation of Windows XP had no idea how successful it would be.”
This hill is being plowed now. A vineyard has been built in front of it and trees have grown behind the hill.
