Bliss (photograph) has been listed as one of the Art and architecture good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Article milestones Date Process Result October 15, 2024 Good article nominee Listed

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There are two sources saying this, and they are both weak for this claim. It's journalistic sensationalism with little or no research, a sort of thought exercise, pure speculation. A reliable claim like this would need a list of photographs ranked with a methodology. -- GreenC 23:56, 5 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I agree even though I still have a lot of sources to examine. If I end up finding a research that concludes that Bliss is the most viewed photograph in history, I'll post it here. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 11:38, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Microsoft Video (2014) speculated it was the "most viewed image of the world.. seen by a billion people". More believable than most viewed in history, and a more reliable source, even though primary but who else would know better. -- GreenC 20:37, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sources for this name:

• ‘Bliss’: The photograph viewed by billions, Far Out (featured article with other possible good stuff to include)
• Charles O'Rear footnote #11 says this information was/is in the metadata of the image in Windows XP Beta 2
• There are so many sources repeating this, none countering it, I think we could be out of sync with the rest of the world not to include it

-- GreenC 20:37, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Is Far Out reliable, though? This seems to be the only mention from a source that could potentially be reliable, but then again they seem to be actually citing content from a YouTube video. We cannot use image metadata as a reliable source, and I did not find any other reliable sources mentioning this name. Corbis Westlight Creative Freedom CD-ROM also does not list images by name. Bucolic Green Hills might have been the original name, but it also could be made up, as it was only introduced in 2019. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 21:53, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've accessed some of O'Rear's books (and books that cover his work) and will try to search through them to see if they mention anything. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 22:21, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There are no mentions of Bliss or Bucolic Green Hills in Napa Valley: The Land, the Wine, the People, Wine Across America: A Photographic Road Trip, California Wine Country (2011), California Wine Country (2004), Beautiful Wineries of the Wine Country, and Wine Country. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 23:02, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's not made up. If you look into the JPG in the ISO of Windows XP, "Bucolic Green Hills" appears in the headline field in the metadata (see https://i.imgur.com/sbFGDTl.png). Other Corbis images store their titles in this field. This same name is also found within the Bliss TIFF file that Fujifilm provided. Unless I'm missing some guideline, I don't see why the metadata can't be used as a source? It's still official data; for example I've seen game credit scenes or liner notes on albums used as sources. The reason it wasn't added until 2019 is because it wasn't until around 2018 when people really started digging deep into researching Windows wallpapers and their details. Meadowtron (talk) 16:03, 7 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That is an interesting confirmation, but it's sad that reliable sources seem to have ignored that name completely. I've looked through Far Out and it seems like they have an editorial policy, but could not find any discussions about them at WP:RSP, so I'll include them anyways and the metadata back in the article. The original reference cited metadata from Windows XP Beta 2. Did the metadata change after in the official release? For now, I'll keep how it was before. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 16:17, 7 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. I think the reason the reference said Beta 2 specifically is because XP converts the default wallpaper into BMP during installation, erasing all of the metadata. In Beta 2 a different wallpaper was set as the default, so Bliss was just installed as a JPG. However, you can still manually extract the JPG from the pre-installation files on the disc of the final release, and the metadata is still present in the file. I believe this may have been why the original title was not widely circulated for several years, due to the post-installation file having no metadata. Meadowtron (talk) 19:51, 7 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We actually don't know who titled or described the photo Bucolic Green Hills. We know it was in the image that Microsoft used in 2000. We know they got it from Corbis, and that Corbis got it from Westlight, and Westlight got it from the author. However the "name" is more like a description, typical of stock photo sites ("Bucolic Green" at Getty). It might have been a name/description chosen by the author, by someone at Westlight, or by someone at Corbis. Who named/described it, or when, is unknown. -- GreenC 15:50, 8 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That looks like a consequence of the name being hidden in the metadata and not mentioned anywhere on the Internet until 2018. Maybe someone will contact O'Rear one day and ask him about that name. I know that we could not use an email as a reference, but it would be still good to know where the title came from. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 16:59, 8 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I would assume that the stock photo agencies name the images, yeah. So it's most likely that the photographers don't bother to title their images since they're just given descriptive names by the marketing people anyways, and I doubt O'Rear would keep track of what all of the names are by memory. And of course, Bliss at the time was just one of many photos O'Rear submitted to Westlight. I think Bucolic Green Hills still works well enough as being an "original title" though. Meadowtron (talk) 21:45, 8 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• ... that Bliss, the default wallpaper of Windows XP, was initially a stock photo? Source: Rooke, Hannah (August 7, 2023). "Have You Seen the "Most Viewed Photo Ever"?". Digital Camera World. Archived from the original on October 8, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  • ALT1: ... that the lush rolling hill of Bliss, the default wallpaper of Windows XP, is now covered with vineyards? Source: Rooke, Hannah (August 7, 2023). "Have You Seen the "Most Viewed Photo Ever"?". Digital Camera World. Archived from the original on October 8, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  • ALT2: ... that Bliss, the default wallpaper of Windows XP, was photographed in Sonoma County, California? Source: Rooke, Hannah (August 7, 2023). "Have You Seen the "Most Viewed Photo Ever"?". Digital Camera World. Archived from the original on October 8, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  • ALT3: ... that Bliss, the default wallpaper of Windows XP, was photographed by a former National Geographic photographer? Source: Rooke, Hannah (August 7, 2023). "Have You Seen the "Most Viewed Photo Ever"?". Digital Camera World. Archived from the original on October 8, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  • ALT4: ... that the rolling hill of Bliss, the default wallpaper of Windows XP, was captured after a phylloxera infestation? Source: Cain, Abigail (July 3, 2017). "The Story Behind the World's Most Famous Desktop Background". Artsy. Archived from the original on July 13, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/1909 Chinese provincial elections

Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 17:06, 15 October 2024 (UTC).[reply]

• Would you like to include the wallpaper itself as image hook? I think the nostalgic value it provides would make the hook even more interesting. Nineteen Ninety-Four guy (talk) 05:47, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Bliss is still copyrighted right? DYK doesn't allow fair-use pictures to be used on the Main Page unfortunately. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 12:28, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it is copyrighted and owned by Microsoft. It would be cool to include the photograph but I'm unsure if DYK rules allow this. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 20:16, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

From WP:DYKIMG: The media must be freely licensed—fair-use images are not permitted on the Main Page. So the answer is no. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 00:44, 31 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• May I suggest the short-and-sweet "ALT5: ... that you can find bliss in California?" (or the passive voice but less funny "... that bliss can be found in California") as a potential April Fools fact? Leafy46 (talk) 03:41, 31 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'd rather prefer other proposed blurbs. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 21:10, 31 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]