Copies from the most viewed photo of all time

Not a photo of a famous photographer, or a famous landmark, but when it comes to Bliss, almost everyone knows, because it is the default wallpaper of a famous operating system: Windows XP

Many of us are no stranger to the photo with the title Bliss, which is the image chosen by Microsoft to be used as the default background image on Windows XP operating system, the popular and widely used Windows version. Most users today.

Bliss has become famous for the popularity of Windows XP.

At first glance, many people will assume that this is just the result of a graphic work. However, the photo was actually photographed by photographer Charles O'Rear on the highway in Sonoma County (California, USA), a beautiful view of a stretch of green field, with white clouds as a backdrop. behind.

According to O'Rear, the photo did not use any interfering editing software and was purely a natural photograph.

O'Rear revealed the picture was taken in 2002, and Microsoft bought the copyright of the photo. Nobody knows exactly how much money Microsoft has to buy the copyright of the photo. However, O'Rear has revealed that it is a 'special' price.

So far, more than 1 billion people have seen this picture worldwide, since Windows XP was released in 2002.

Author Charles O'Rear next to the photo 'Bliss', standing in front of the position where he took the picture.

O'Rear's photo has become a source of inspiration for a $ 200 million advertising campaign that Microsoft runs for Windows XP, called 'Yes, you can' , made with a series of promotional videos. reports on television stations in the United States. The advertising campaign also included Madonna singer ' famous Ray of Light,' which Microsoft spent $ 14 million on royalties.

There is something quite interesting about the Bliss photo, which is in the Dutch version of Windows XP, this photo is called 'Ireland' , although the photo was taken in the US and There is no relation to Ireland.

After the photo became famous all over the world, many photographers later found the right position where O'Rear took the 'legendary' picture hoping to do the same thing again. as he did 10 years ago, however, it is difficult to recreate the scene of 'Bliss' , especially when the scene has gradually changed over time.

The hill where the photo 'Bliss' was born, was taken in November 2006.

This same scene, but was taken in May 2010.

Photos taken with Google's Street View service, in May 2011.