Where was the famous XP desktop background taken?

Question

Where is this place? I have been seeing this photo (XP desktop background) for years now and I always wondered about this place. Can anyone identify it?

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 05 '13 at 02:14

Oddly, in the Dutch and Portuguese versions of XP it was called "Ireland", when the shot was actually taken in North America. Known as Bliss, it's from Sonoma County, California, USA.

The location on Google maps - 38.250124,-122.410817.

Amazingly, it was taken as part of a photographic work on the subject of wine making in the area. It now has a vineyard on the hill, and looks completely different:

Same location, 2006 (Source - Wikimedia commons)

For further information on it, and why some people used to think it was in Switzerland, the Wikipedia article is very enlightening.

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 04 '13 at 15:35

10

Bliss is a hill in Sonoma County, Calfornia, the shot was taken by Charles O’Rear.

answered Dec 04 '13 at 15:35

Geeo

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Where was the famous XP desktop background taken?

2 Answers2