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Join Us When Microsoft debuted its landmark operating system Windows XP in the fall of 2001, the default desktop wallpaper “Bliss” ended up becoming the most viewed photograph in the world . You might not recognize it by name, but thinking of the rolling hills of lush green grass in California’s Sonoma County, matched in intensity with an equally saturated blue sky and puffy cumulus clouds, should certainly conjure up the iconic background worthy of its given title. Microsoft is chasing that high again with a contest for the next archetypal landscape wallpaper for Windows.

Partnering with the creative agency Superdigital, Microsoft tapped seven international photographers to research, plan, capture, and edit their submissions on Surface devices. Fans voted on their favorites, leaving seven winning selections. Whitney Wolf, Superdigital director of strategy, called it “an opportunity to help Microsoft tap into a deep rooted nostalgia for t.