Did You Know? The Windows XP Wallpaper Was So Expensive FedEx Refused to Ship It

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.

And 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.

Bliss 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. 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 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 f...