Popular hill in Windows XP wallpaper ‘Bliss’ may have survived California brush fire

California recently experienced one of the worst brush fires in history. Homes and vineyards were destroyed in various places.

Due to the widespread destruction, netizens were worried that the place which inspired the Windows XP “Bliss” wallpaper, one of the world’s most famous wallpapers, may have been burned to the ground.

Image: Twitter/@TerabyteCoyote

The photo above was uploaded by Twitter user Kate Kisset. It shows a burning hillside, which appears similar to the “Bliss” hill, near a vineyard. Her caption suggests the area to be around Sonoma county. The same county turned out to be where lensman Charles O’Rear photographed the green rolling hills which became “Bliss”.

Image: Twitter/@katekisset

However, according to a map of the damaged area created by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the “Bliss” location narrowly escaped the firestorm and may have remained untouched.

Image: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)

Here is “Bliss” marked on Google Maps as a point of interest (in blue circle), with the damaged area outlined in red.

Image: Google Maps

The site of “Bliss” had been transformed into a vast vineyard in the years since O’Rear took his photograph. The photo below shows how the location looks like as of July 2017.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Exoplanetaryscience

Meanwhile, Microsoft stopped providing software updates to Windows XP since 2014. However, 7 percent of the world’s computers still run the legacy operating system. This poses quite a risk to cyber security.

Perhaps users just can’t let go of the software just yet, maybe because they enjoy looking at Windows XP’s signature wallpaper. JB

Image: Microsoft

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