Charles O’Rear’s famous “Bliss” photo, shot near his home in California’s Napa Valley, became famous as the wallpaper of Microsoft’s Windows XP.

The Bliss' was Windows XP's default wallpaper and is mostly unedited thanks to a vintage camera and a film. O'Rear used a 1980's Mamiya RZ67 SLR camera and a Fujifilm Velvia film to shoot the image.

Indeed, it still is. According to Instagram account Inside History, the Windows XP wallpaper image was taken in 1996 by photographer Charles O’Rear.

For anyone using a computer in the early 2000s, an image is immediately recognizable - the bright blue sky of the Rolling Green Hills and Windows XP's default wallpaper, bliss. This cool landscape ...

Microsoft acquired the rights to Bliss in 2000, and from the company's widespread use of the photo as the official Windows XP wallpaper, it's speculated to be the most viewed photograph in history.

Turns out Windows XP's iconic default desktop wallpaper is actually a photo of a real life hill in the Bay Area. I went and found the hill, plus the amazing 79-year-old man who took the photo.

Like Windows XP itself, Microsoft's 'Bliss' image of rolling green hills has aged, and evolved. Here's its story— and what the real-world site looks like today.

Windows XP's iconic 'Bliss' wallpaper was clicked on a road trip. What Microsoft paid for it Microsoft paid Charles O'Rear an undisclosed amount of money for the use of 'Bliss' at the time but the ...

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 ...