Although no specifics were provided, it’s believed the price was somewhere in the low six figures, so shipping the photo and the slide required a very expensive insurance. This proved to be more complicated that it seemed to be given how much Microsoft paid for the photo. The software giant purchased not only the rights to use the photo as the desktop background in Windows XP, but also the slide it was originally captured on, so Microsoft requested the photographer to deliver the film as well. Microsoft employees started looking for photos and eventually decided to stick with Bliss, though getting their hands on the actual image was a more complex process than initially thought. The shipping adventureĬhoosing the new Windows XP background, however, wasn’t an easy thing to do. The photo itself was uploaded to Corbis, a digital image service (more like stock photo websites) that Bill Gates himself founded, and was picked by Microsoft in 2000 as the default wallpaper for Windows XP. The photo in question was a medium format film negative that O’Rear shot with a Mamiya RZ67 on a tripod and Fujifilm Velvia film. The Windows XP wallpaper, known to everyone as Bliss, is without a doubt the most famous desktop background that ever got to see daylight, and this is mostly the result of how successful the operating system turned out to be.Īnd while many people know how the wallpaper eventually became so popular, the untold story of Bliss includes a plethora of captivating details proving that choosing a new desktop wallpaper for the world’s number one PC operating system isn’t just happening overnight.īliss is the creation of photographer Charles “Chuck” O’Rear, who took the picture in 1996 when he was driving down Highway 121 in the Napa Valley wine region.
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