For many people who experienced the wave of computer popularity in the early 21st century, the default desktop wallpaper of the Windows XP operating system "Bliss" is undoubtedly one of the most famous photos in history. This iconic photo of "blue sky, white clouds and green land" has almost become synonymous with digital life throughout that era.

This world-famous photo was taken by photographer Charles O’Rear in January 1996. At the time, he was driving on Highway 121 in Sonoma County, California. A storm had just subsided, making the grass on the hills look particularly green, and the sky was dotted with white clouds. Captivated by the beauty, Oriel stopped his car and captured the moment with a Mamiya RZ67 medium format camera. To produce richer and more vivid colors, he used Fuji Velvia film, known for its high color saturation. In the end, the photo was handed over to Microsoft with almost no post-retouching. In 2001, Microsoft bought the rights to this photo through the Corbis Photo Library, officially named it "Bliss" and made it the default desktop background on Windows XP.

Today, thirty years have passed since the birth of this photo. As time goes by, the appearance of the actual shooting location has naturally changed dramatically. Recently, some followers retrieved historical images through Google Earth to completely review the changes of this famous hill in Sonoma County, California over the past few decades. It can be seen from the extracted real-life images of 2007, 2009, 2014, 2017, 2021, 2022 and even 2025 that the pure green hills of that year no longer exist.

Looking into the reasons behind it, the reason why the hills were able to show such a dreamlike and tranquil texture under the lens was largely due to an accidental timing. In fact, the vineyards that now cover the hillside were completely eradicated that year due to a severe outbreak of the grape phylloxera pest. It is precisely because of this change that the hillside that was originally supposed to be a continuous grape trellis was covered with a large area of ​​grass, thus creating the pure and natural beauty in the photo.

Over the next thirty years, the vineyards were replanted, uprooted and replanted again. Therefore, this "Bliss" hill, which carries the memories of countless people's youth and technology, has shown the world a completely different landscape almost every year in the past thirty years.