nostalgia yes, but with more pixels


The world famous ‘Bliss’ wallpaper, and perhaps one of the most popular images, has been given a facelift by a Microsoft design team. Enough to have a Windows XP wallpaper in 4K, to adapt to our screens today.

Windows XP is a very famous version of the OS, as it has been used and equipped with many computers around the world. Its default wallpaper, called Bliss, has become a reference over time. Years later, it was revisited by Microsoft Design, during the Design Week event, which takes place each year around a theme. He is the journalistArs-TechnicaAndrew Cunningham, who spotted this recently, via a tweet from Microsoft engineer Jen Gentleman.

The wallpaper ” Bliss» of Windows XP revisited and in 4K

When released in October 2001, Windows XP came with a default wallpaper, named Bliss. It represents a green hill in California, under a sky with some clouds, a day in January 1996, by Charles O’Rear. In total, it is estimated that this image would have been seen by billions of people around the world. As a reminder, the original photograph had only been slightly retouched.

The “Bliss” wallpaper revisited // Source: Microsoft

In a blog post, Microsoft 365 explains the work done on this new version: shadows have been shifted, clouds softened and dandelions added. The firm’s design teams really wanted to modernize Bliss. It is therefore not exactly a high definition version of the original photograph, but more of a remastering. Something to find a balance between nostalgia and updating.

Paint and Solitaire are eligible too

To satisfy its fans, Microsoft has created two other wallpapers. The first pays homage to Lonely in a staging of the victory screen, during which the cards scrolled until they covered the entire screen.

The other represents paint first of the name (not to be confused withPaint 3Dlaunched in 2017). We see a small window with a transparent background, all the buttons and above all the paint that sticks out. In fact, the image shows Paint as a work of art in a museum, further proof of the importance of software in computing.


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