Microsoft wallpaper hunt searches for ‘Bliss’

Microsoft is seeking to recreate the magic of its iconic Windows wallpaper Bliss, with a contest to find new backdrops for its operating system. With its lush green hills and bright blue skies, the image of California’s Sonoma County became the world’s most-viewed photograph after debuting in 2001 as the default background for Windows XP.

Hoping to tap into what its creative agency described as a “a deep rooted nostalgia for the brand that has reemerged in recent years,” Microsoft asked seven photographers to take landscape shots that could become the next archetypal wallpaper, Hyperallergic reported. Winning selections included a dreamy silhouette of Japan’s Mount Fuji, a mossy Scottish Highland stream, and a chateau in France’s Loire Valley.