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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Jeremy Laird

From pixels to pinot: The Windows XP 'Bliss' wallpaper hill was real and this is what it looks like now

Microsoft's iconic Bliss wallpaper.

Windows XP was the most blissful iteration of Microsoft's ubiquitous operating system. That's an objective, empirical, placebo-controlled, peer-reviewed, double-blind fact. After all, it's arguably most famous for its signature "Bliss" wallpaper depicting a rolling green hill, deep blue sky and little fluffy clouds. But whatever happened to that hill? Was it actually real? And if it was, what does it look like today?

Turns out, not only was the Bliss hill real, that high-saturation image apparently wasn't even manipulated. The hill in question was located in Sonoma County, California. Indeed, it still is.

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