Default Windows Xp Wallpaper

[Lcs Basinger]

Windows10 is an operating system released by Microsoft in 2015. It is the successor to 8.1. Unlike previous versions of Windows, builds are released very frequently and major updates are provided at no cost.

Chris Raykovich (acting as director) and Marylee Johnson (acting as executive producer) were responsible for the production of Windows 10's wallpaper sets. They commissioned former National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry[1] to take photos at New Zealand, and Chad Copeland to take photos around the world.[2][3] Along with the new wallpapers, the Flowers theme from its predecessor would be reused in the final release of Windows 10. McCurry and Copeland also took several shots that did not make it into the final release, which are present on Raykovich and Johnson's websites.

The default wallpaper was created by a team led by graphic designer Bradley G. Munkowitz. It is included at many different resolutions as low as 1024x768 and as high as 3840x2160. A version of this wallpaper was included in Windows 10 S, a feature-limited edition of Windows 10 designed primarily for low-end devices in the education market, which only allows the installation of apps from Microsoft Store; system settings are locked to only allow Microsoft Edge as the default web browser with Bing as its search engine. This edition existed only in Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703) and Fall Creators Update (version 1709). With Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803), Windows 10 S became a mode (called "S mode") available in Home, Pro, and Pro Education editions. Starting with Windows 10 May 2019 Update (version 1903), it was replaced with a more simplified version that features a bright blue background. An alternative variant of the simplified wallpaper was later included in the Windows 365 service as the default wallpaper for virtual machines that run on the aforementioned operating system.

First released with version 1703, Windows 10 China Government Edition, also called Enterprise G, is an edition designed for use within branches of the Chinese government as part of the partnership between Microsoft and China Electronics Technology Group. Its wallpapers depicts landmarks of mainland China and contains the watermark of CMIT, a Chinese holding JV jointly established by China Electronics Technology Group and Microsoft. Versions 1703 to 1803 contains the same Flowers theme as other editions, and versions 1809 and 21H2 both feature an entirely different set of wallpapers. It's currently unknown who took these wallpapers.

The Team SKU of Windows 10 contains an entirely different set of wallpapers, all at 3840x2160 as opposed to 1920x1200 in order to accommodate for the screen resolution of the Microsoft Surface Hub. They are split into two folders: Cat01 and Cat02. At least three of the images present in this set are alternative versions of lock screen wallpapers present in other editions of Windows 10. Most of the wallpapers present in this set are in PNG format, resulting in large file sizes.

Windows 10X is a version that was originally supposed to arrive alongside new dual-screen devices like the Surface Neo. It was announced in October 2019, then delayed in April 2020, and canceled in May 2021; many of its features would rolled into what would eventually become Windows 11. It has a very small selection of wallpapers in inconsistent resolutions, and it is very likely this was not intended to be the final set. Beach was taken from the free photo site Unsplash, rather than being licensed from a stock photo site or taken by an employee/hired photographer, so this was likely a placeholder. White Objects was also not originally created for 10X either: it was one of several pieces created by Six N. Five for McCann Milan's design walls in 2017.

McCurry and Copeland were also involved in the creation of the lock screen wallpapers (excluding the final image, as it simply consists of a shade of blue). img100 is the only image at 3840x2160 instead of 1920x1200. They were later replaced with a set of CGI images from Windows 11, with exception of img105.

The Team SKU features a set of lock screen wallpapers that mainly consist of environmental shots. At least three of the images present in this set are alternative versions of lock screen wallpapers present in other editions of Windows 10.

The sign-in screen in Windows 10 versions 1507 (initial release) and 1511 (November Update) feature a darker version of the default desktop wallpaper as the background. This was removed in version 1607 (Anniversary Update), and the sign-in screen background now matches the lock screen background instead.

The setup background called background_cli.bmp used by Windows 10 Setup. It was reused from Windows 8. It can be found in the /sources/ folder inside of Windows 10 ISO. The background itself consists of simply #180052, the default Windows 8 accent color. The same picture used in Windows 8 and 8.1.

Bliss, originally titled Bucolic Green Hills, is the default wallpaper of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. It is an unedited photograph of a green hill and blue sky with white clouds in the Los Carneros American Viticultural Area of Wine Country, California. Charles O'Rear took the photo in January 1996 and Microsoft bought the rights in 2000. It is estimated that billions of people have seen the picture, possibly making it the most viewed photograph in history.[1]

Former National Geographic photographer Charles O'Rear, a resident of the nearby Napa Valley, took the photo on film with a medium-format Mamiya RZ67 camera while on his way to visit his girlfriend in 1996. While it was widely believed later that the image was manipulated or even created with software such as Adobe Photoshop, O'Rear says it was not.[2][3] He sold it to Westlight for use as a stock photo titled Bucolic Green Hills.[4] Westlight was bought by Corbis in 1998, who digitized its best selling images.[5] Two years following the acquisition, Microsoft's design team selected images to be used as wallpapers in Windows XP. The image would eventually be chosen as the default wallpaper, resulting in the company acquiring the image and renaming it to Bliss.

Microsoft chose the image because "it illustrates the experiences Microsoft strives to provide customers (freedom, possibility, calmness, warmth, etc.)."[7]Due to the market success of Windows XP,[6][8][9] over the next decade it was claimed to be the most viewed photograph in the world during that time.[1]

In January 1996, former National Geographic photographer O'Rear was on his way from his home in St. Helena, California, in the Napa Valley north of San Francisco, to visit his girlfriend, Daphne Irwin (whom he later married), in the city, as he did every Friday afternoon. He was working with Irwin on a book about the wine country. He was particularly alert for a photo opportunity that day, since a storm had just passed over and other recent winter rains had left the area especially green.[10]

To take the photo, O'Rear used a Mamiya RZ67 medium-format camera on a tripod, choosing Fujifilm's Velvia, a film often used among nature photographers and known to saturate some colors.[2][13] O'Rear credits that combination of camera and film for the success of the image. "It made the difference and, I think, helped the Bliss photograph stand out even more," he said. "I think that if I had shot it with 35 mm, it would not have nearly the same effect."[14] While he was setting up his camera, he said it was possible that the clouds in the picture came in. "Everything was changing so quickly at that time."

Since it was not pertinent to the wine-country book, O'Rear made it available through Westlight (transferred to Corbis after its acquisition) as a stock photo, available for use by any interested party willing to pay an appropriate licensing fee.[2] He also submitted a vertical shot, which was available at the same time.[16]

In 2000, Microsoft's Windows XP development team contacted O'Rear through Corbis, which he believes they used instead of larger competitor Getty Images, also based in Seattle, because the former company was owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.[17] "I have no idea what [they] were looking for," he recalls. "Were they looking for an image that was peaceful? Were they looking for an image that had no tension?"[18] Another image of O'Rear's titled Full Moon over Red Dunes, known as Red moon desert in Windows XP, was also considered as the default wallpaper, but was changed due to testers comparing it to buttocks.[19]

Microsoft said they wanted not just to license the image for use as XP's default wallpaper, but to buy all the rights to it. They offered O'Rear what he says is the second-largest payment ever made to a photographer for a single image; however, he signed a confidentiality agreement and cannot disclose the exact amount.[20] It has been reported to be "in the low six figures."[1] O'Rear needed to send Microsoft the original film and sign the paperwork; however, when couriers and delivery services became aware of the value of the shipment, they declined since it was higher than their insurance would cover. Instead, the software company bought O'Rear a plane ticket and he personally delivered it to their offices.[1] "I had no idea where it was going to go," he said. "I don't think the engineers or anybody at Microsoft had any idea it would have the success it's had."[21]

Microsoft gave the photo its current name, and made it a key part of its marketing campaign for XP. Although it is often said that it was cropped slightly to the left and the greens were made slightly stronger, the version Microsoft bought from Corbis had been cropped like this to begin with,[16] while the saturation is a result of the Velvia film. O'Rear estimates that the image has been seen on a billion computers worldwide, based on the number of copies of XP sold since then.[20]

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