30 years later, the iconic 'Bliss' green hill from Windows XP is still thriving — lucky passerby captures the hill looking almost identical to the 1996 photograph in 'super rare' event

For the release of Windows XP, Microsoft picked out a default wallpaper featuring a then-random rolling green hill and named it "Bliss." Almost immediately, it became a worldwide sensation, largely due to the operating system's prevalence, turning common terrain into an icon. Decades later, it's hard to find that hill in the same condition because it's usually covered in dead grass, but one lucky Redditor managed to capture it at the perfect time of the year.

In the picture above, the hill looks almost identical to the original wallpaper, and that's because OP was very lucky. This is actually a privately owned hill in Sonoma County, in the small town of Napa, and it's usually covered in vineyards all year round. When the original wallpaper was taken back in 1996, photographer Charles O'Rear had caught it at a rather fortunate time. The vineyards had been removed from the area due to pest control, allowing the grass to grow emerald and picturesque.

Redditor u/SuperPJG123 basically replicated that luck and managed to travel past the hill when it was at its peak — uninterrupted by human intervention. The vineyards and resulting dead grass are gone, and nature has reclaimed its property. Over the years, many people have visited this area and remarked on how the "Bliss Hill" is no longer the same; left to rot unattended, without understanding the nuances of the situation. Even in vineyard season, the hill doesn't look bad, per se, just not as visually striking.

The original picture was captured on a Mamiya RZ67 medium-format film camera, while this modern one was likely snapped in the auto mode of a smartphone, so there's a bit of a drop in sophistication, but we digress. The clouds also look a bit different, understandably so. And the iconic blue sky isn't as punchy, which Charles O'Rear claimed was never altered. Nostalgia aside, it's great to catch up with an old friend.

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