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.

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.

Source: Microsoft

Source: Microsoft

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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