So many people misunderstood me. Oh, well. Edit 2: The first part of my reply was sarcastic out of frustration with humanity's general mentality. The sarcasm caused misunderstanding. The main focus was about making the world a less toxic place in general. I see now, this is not the place for this subject matter.
@@Xaina.Sarpenta mate its literally so easy to credit and avoid goosechases like these. what a dramatic world this is :P edit since the reply was removed, it was something along the lines of making fun of people for hunting down the photographer. even if it was just sarcastic like they said, it was still an L take as the kids say. and they could have just added a sarcasm tone indicator =P
@@informalnarwhals Yup, you're right! Microsoft has to help save the simple-minded people from themselves, because they can't save themselves from obsessing over miniscule things. 👍🏼
Autumn, originally known as Autumn Leaves, is a wallpaper included in Windows XP, licensed from Corbis. It was taken by Peter Burian in October 1999. It depicts a road covered in leaves in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
It's really interesting how many people a simple freaking OS was able to touch. Windows XP was around for more than 15 years and everyone born pre-2005 probably remembers it one way or another. For me it's a combination of Windows 98 and XP but I can't stop adoring the UI of the XP, the sounds, the friendlyness of the environment, the joys of using it to browse the then-new world of internet and play new games pushing boundaries of the gaming world. Beautiful memories.
Same… I‘m not even born pre-2005, but it still feels very nostalgic to me because we still used it as a daily driver when I was in kindergarten and we still use it from time to time because there‘s important files on the pc.
This was such a satisfying watch. Dude really went from having zero info, names, leads, or connections, to getting the photographer himself involved, to a confirmed location, to regular visitors taking their own photos, to finally getting _the actual uncompressed 5k file_ from 2002.
Considering the picture was taken in 1999 I wonder if there is a proper original somewhere, i.e. an actual slide. I can't imagine a professional photographer in 1999 shooting digitally, so I assume the picture was taken on film and scanned.
I find it so unfortunate that Microsoft and many other companies lean into minimalism so hard. It's hard to connect or make memories with something so bland. I wish this type of personality would come back. Vista has the most memories for me by far and there was so much that made it memorable. I hope we see a resurgence of this type of design and inclusion of art into the operating systems again.
@@liamjames-hendriks4895 I can understand the more simplistic beauty that went into 7's design and artwork, but Vista both felt abstract and connected with so much in every little detail. So that abstract art felt very good for my brain to imagine what may have been hard for me otherwise, and that connection with the art in the real world made it feel all connected. I feel like it was both in the name and the motto of being "clear, confident and connected" because a vista was something you can find in the real world, and it was also something that you could imagine. It just felt good for my imagination, how many times I just got mesmerized in thinking about its art and how beautiful it was to me.
Autumn was the wallpaper on my grandfather’s desktop for years. I spent a lot of time as a kid at my grandparent’s house and I deeply associate this image with hanging out in their basement playing flash games. I hadn’t seen it in over a decade until watching this video and it brought back a lot of good memories. He committed suicide two months ago so it was nice to think about the good old days for a bit. Thank you for bringing me some nostalgia.
Ah, I really miss when computers (and electronics in general) looked like this! They felt very warm, friendly and personal, from the sample images to the sound effects. Great video! ☺
Friendliness was intentional, to make people acquainted to tech, as it was a new, unknown thing. Then, when people accepted tech, they started making it cold and uninviting again, which in my opinion was a mistake. You do not change the winning combination just because. I’ve been reading about how people are having increasingly negative opinion of technology, and it could be in part due to this.
Personally, when I think of Windows XP, it's not only Bliss & Autumn, which come to mind, but also a wallpaper under the name "Wind". Wind was a wallpaper of a sand dune with sand blowing to the right. I remember that wallpaper vividly, as it was used in Windows Movie Maker 2.x
@@aprofondirthat's red moon desert, not wind. yes, microsoft in 2001 decided it was a good idea to put 2 desert located wallpapers. with the only differences being height, sand colour and time of day. great job, bill.
Interesting video! Every picture tells a story. FYI, I am the person behind the Windows Wallpaper Wiki and also started that fundraiser to get the full res version of Autumn. I also have multiple packs of wallpapers, which can be checked out online. I too have quite a drive for research; nowadays I've been researching ringtones and their composers, and obtaining credits, HQ versions and tones that didn't make the cut.
@@Lucs100 thanks! Yes, I run Tech Product Bangers (as it's called now), I've still been uploading tracks to UA-cam and I sometimes post interviews too. Glad people are enjoying this!
Autumn was my background of choice for my childhood, and so: Seeing it for the first time in so many years, is far more nostalgic than I ever thought possible. It's like looking at a picture of an old bedroom, every little detail is ingrained into my memory. Now, I want to watch this video, but I couldn't help but comment this as soon as you showed it in the video.
The big payoff here for me is finding out in the end this is basically in my back yard. Burlington is 5 -10 minutes away from me, I've almost certainly been on this road at least once in my travels.
You say how powerful memories can be.... It shows how powerful the internet is now compared to back in the day when it was just email, fax or telephone .... or a Nokia haha.. Unreal, + now every generation can visit both, 'Bliss'' and 'Autumn's locations, this video is so heartwarming + beautiful.
There is no way. I distinctly remember asking my kindergarten teacher which place that photo was from ( I don't think I fully understood the concept of wallpapers) and it's kind of been on and off my mind since then. This is absolutely mindblowing, I thought me wondering was an irrelevant personal thing but turns out a lot of people felt the same thing.
I'm still very curious why Microsoft wouldn't credit the photographer, going so far as to say they couldn't credit him. I was hoping that would be explain, or at least mentioned again.
I am from Burlington, Canada and I have walked past this location a thousand times when I was about 4-9 years old. Never knew that it was so significant.
Things like THIS make me feel so proud of my generation - and it warms my heart seeing so many in my age range longing for that nostalgic, wholesome sort of feeling and seeking out content that inspires that. I feel like for a while, the world felt cynical - and honestly it makes me feel better seeing so many people out there placing so much value on things like this, or musical cues and little nuanced pieces of media from the past that have gone rather unnoticed. It's beautiful, honestly. That's how I was as a kid - just very curious, very interested in everything music and film and TV and computer-related and very observant. Hearing old Windows sounds or sounds from old PC games - these old wallpapers... this is stuff that really made an impact, surprisingly. I would hope the creators of some of these pieces of media would be happy to know there are weird folks out here like us who care enough to value their work so much. :)
Love to see that image get a bit of attention compared to bliss. Personally, when i think of XP, it's not bliss that comes to mind, it's autumn, simply for the fact that around 2011, when i was in middle school, the computers all ran XP, with Autumn in the background.
For me autumn was the azul wallpaper. A calm and sunny white beach with a few lonely trees, a lone sailboat, blue water and bluer skies. I could almost smell it sitting in front of the computer. XP had some amazing wallpapers, Come to think of it.
I remember my grandpa from my mom's side had this wallpaper on his PC. I used to sit on his lap and watch him browse stuff and assort his files, and sometimes he'd let me watch videos and play some games on it- it was probably the machine that I watched some of my first GMod animations and shitposts. He passed away about 4 years ago, due to some odd leg infection and his physical condition getting worse over time. It was probably almost 15 years ago by now...
Random fact: Apparently deadmau5 lives pretty close to the location of the wallpaper, someone posted your video on Reddit and he commented saying he lives very close by lol
I recall the lost "skyscrapers" wallpapers for companies and educators. And they always looked liminal to me, a place like an oasis of a infinite sized skyscraper. Does anyone remember these?
@@subpar7404 Some photos of a bright blue sky and endless windows. These I'd thought were very classic to me or well known. I was wrong, only a personal thing. Some of them had clouds and in the reflection of them in the windows. These were like for professionals or people of work, who got these. Windows 7/8 wallpapers.
@@pabblo1 Not, not really most of the stalk photos of the blue skyscrapers, I cannot find in that themepack. I don't know where these photos came from. If the school still has some of the old computers I'll try to rip them online tho.
I'm a bit younger so I honestly forgot that it was an XP wallpaper, but I always found myself noticing places where the formation of trees resembles this image. I've now finally realized that I have such a nostalgic connection to it because the computer in my classroom had it as a wallpaper. This was in my elementary school days, anywhere between 2010 and 2014.
Wow! Didn't realized that my own earlier video documenting about this wallpaper got featured in one of my subscriptions list's video 😄. Thank you for highlighting my documentary! and also your content is very entertaining and amazing as always 😉.
Autumn was my favorite default WXP wallpaper. I've since forgotten about it because as a teenager, I cared more about custom wallpapers. But this was my favorite default. I never knew it had such a big mystery behind it.
This hits, because it's a liminal space. You're description of "it could be literally anywhere" nails it. That's a liminal space. They always have a mix a familiarity and mystery because your brain wants to figure out where it is
Not depressing but more so the representation of a big change. A change that has a somber feeling to it, but it’s also beautiful from another perspective. Transformative
@@harukami912 there actually is a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in which the specific season brings about an episode of depression every year. It can range from mild sadness to severe, debilitating depression during that season. The agreed upon cause is the reduction in sunlight and increased darkness, which can lower seratonin and increase the feeling of loneliness, isolation, and sadness in some people. Usually, light therapy can treat the issue
this image is absolutely mystical. the emotions that it causes me to feel seem almost indescribable. there's this air of mystery about it, like what could be hiding beyond those trees? where even was the image taken? who took it? if i didnt know any better, i would think that it was taken from one of my dreams. it would explain why it felt so extremely foreign to me, yet also felt exactly like home. it makes you feel warmth from the comfort it provides, yet a subtle cold from its mysterious nature. it reminds me of those old visual novels, mostly romance ones. i really wish i could escape to that exact image, in that exact point in time that it was taken, and just stay there for a while
wow. i was not expecting this little piece of digital history to have originated 20 minutes from my house. honestly amazing how small the world is, even the digital one
when i was a little kid, i would used to go to this one dentist. it was a rather small office. in the waiting room, there was a computer with windows xp. on that computer, it also had the autumn wallpaper. i had fond memories of not being able to use the computer because someone else was hogging it the entire time i was there but that was my first memory of seeing the autumn wallpaper and seeing windows xp. good times.
There's something special about the thought of having a photo of a location but not knowing where it is, doing a search to figure out where the photo was taken, and then actually visiting the place. Especially considering the ravages of time sometimes aren't so kind and the window of opportunity to do such a thing might close. Old places that got photographed might not always still exist in the future, so being able to experience a place for yourself could be something truly precious.
Autumn and Azul were my favourite wallpapers in Windows XP, they just make you feel calm and relaxed. Watching these wallpapers now makes me feel like that it was only yesterday when I was a kid and used to play games and mess around with Windows XP settings and wallpaper.
This channel is literally one of the best I've ever watched on this platform, top notch editing and storytelling, love you NationSquid, and keep making these special videos for us
I always dreamt of driving down that road to my Cabin in the woods, leaves flying behind my convertible with the Verve's Bittersweet Symphony blasting on the radio. Lol it's a mashed up nostalgia 90s fever dream with Cruel Intentions sprinkled in there 🤣💕
try as you might; whenever XP is mentioned, bliss follows after. Bliss still appeared several times throughout the video which just goes to show the power Bliss had and continues to have. Sure Autumn has power through mystery and slight nostalgia, but Bliss has the power to be the first thing you think of when XP is brought up.
I remember this image very fondly as many of my teachers at school used it, and a few had the silver theme as well. Always shown on the projector screen and was really warm and inviting. In Florida we don’t really get these colors so it’s really nice to see.
The sheer quality of this video was enough to not skip a second to discover the answer, rather get hooked with it gradually go on with the flow. Nice work. ❤️
What a video! Sure, Bliss was and always will be the best one for me, but Autumn just had something so captivating about it. Autumn was so real yet fake, so near yet so far, so comforting and yet so full of mystery.
I’ve lived 15 minutes away from the Autumn location most of my life, certainly during the whole XP period and often used this wallpaper. Had no idea until this year.
Funnily enough, there was a tile called LEAVES.BMP in Windows 3.1 that was removed in later versions. My mom used in and missed the autumn leaves after upgrading Windows so I found it for her and upscaled in bitmap editor so the continuous tile will work on higher resolution.
that autumn wallpaper was my favorite wallpaper back when I was a kid. as someone who didn’t grew up on a country that has no four seasons every time I turn on the computer and look at the wallpaper I always wish I could experience autumn someday and during my child mind it seems so impossible because my family is not really well off. and now that I live in Canada to experience it autumn is one of my fave season 🍂 ❤
I remember watching UA-cam videos where the guy pointed out that it says "HELL" on the wooden fence. 12 year old me was scared shitless that bill gates himself was the devil and was coming for me for using this wallpaper
Just looking at the default Windows XP wallpapers hurts and for some reason, looking at Autumn hurts even more than Bliss. But it's a good kind of pain as it, as you mentioned, feels like returning home where it's safe and there isn't a thing in the world to worry about. Crazy how a computer operating system can embed itself into one's mind and just stay there representing a wonderful time long gone by.
These kinds of stories is what makes/made the internet great, people all over the world who collectively investigate something small and find the answer together. I hate most of the modern day internet (like TikTok and Instagram etc.) but this is what makes the internet amazing.
I’ve been watching your videos for about a year now and your endings are always so beautifully worded that they bring tears to my eyes! Thank you so much for all of the hard work that you do to deliver us such great content. ❤
Literally gonna start sobbing, not only do I have incredible nostalgia and love for older Windows versions, 2024 is so hostile and cold and so many people can't see eye to eye, but a wallpaper, a simple pre-installed JPEG in XP brought so many people together, from different beliefs, different places, different backgrounds, just to find it. That's REAL humanity.
This is such an amazing story. I always liked Autumn more than Bliss or Azure because of the warm tones. Easy on the eyes. Nowadays, I feel like we could have just asked GeoGuessr players like Rainbolt to find the location. Would not have helped to track down the photographer though.
I remember clearly using this wallpaper back then, I live in a country where Autumn doesn't exist, so for a child to see that maybe for the first time, it captivated me and quickly became my favorite along Bliss, Ascent and Red moon desert. To this day I still dream of traveling to one of these places and see it with my own eyes, for people who live up north is not a big deal, happens every year, but for me at least, is something I long to see. As a side note, I don't know why, but as you finished your video talking about how memories can be powerful, Halo 3 epilogue theme started playing in my head, I don't know why, but it probably goes along the whole memories thing, it suited your conclusion really well though!
Autumn feels like cold cozy mornings. With a warm breeze. Sweaters nd hot chocolate. Pumpkins nd early sunsets, making the days orange. Autumn is calm and peaceful. I grew up in this area. Was magical. This video hit different. If anyone knows the map’s location please reach out to me.
my family had xp for ages and when i was finally old enough to have my own user account on the family computer i got tired of bliss so i changed it to autumn. it stayed that way until the computer finally kicked the bucket in about 2015. super cool to find out where my favorite wallpaper actually came from, thank you!
I Love Bliss Wallpaper alot and I wish both Windows 10/11 had Windows XP's GUI Theme Luna Green Start Button Blue Taskbar and blue titlebars with that one orange X button.
This wallpaper recall me with so much memory during windows xp days. Im always in awe everytime i saw this wallpaper and it always fit with midnight internet surfing mood back those days.
GREAT storytelling man, truly appreciated the message behind this story because it showed me how many great stories can be hidden even behind small things. We often don't realize it because time passes quickly and inexorably, but it's so true. Also love all this channel content and and editing, sooo immersive🧡
Autumn was my favorite wallpaper when I was 6. I 100% believe it shaped my weather preferences. I love rain and cold weather and rainy fall/winter backgrounds
This made me so emotional. Thanks for this video. I grew up with windows XP so these old wallpapers really stick with me and I’m so happy to see how hard people worked to restore the glory of the original photograph!!!!!
I got information for you! Autumn, originally known as Autumn Leaves, is a wallpaper included in Windows XP, licensed from Corbis. It was taken by Peter Burian in October 1999. It depicts a road covered in leaves in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
@@teamrocketundercoveragent. uhhh, it's an abandoned barn owned by the Harris Estate. He says so right in the video lol do yall click on these and just not watch it? weird
This image is so nostalgic for me, even more than Bliss. Autumn was my favourite season as a kid and this image really expressed the beauty and comfort of it. I never actually noticed that there was a wooden hut at the end of that road. I thought these were just tree trunks close together in a dense coniferous forest. Maybe it's just the nostalgia, but that image, and the other wallpapers really had a childlike feeling of wonder and happiness with them. Not knowing where it was made it feels almost like a mystical place. I made the HD version my new desktop background again just to relive that nostalgia.
i used to spend countless hours with my buddy looking up guitar tabs on a windows xp machine through the 2000s. this wallpaper definitely stands out as the one he had on it. as well as the chess pieces for the user profile image.
Even thought this is a distant childhood memory now, this video recalled that I used to love the Autumn wallpaper from Windows XP and I also remember the Sunset wallpaper.
This one is actually my favourite XP wallpaper. One of my teachers as a kid had it as her wallpaper and it always stuck in my mind. I have the full resolution version saved on my current PC!
Omg! When we finally got our- then modern first computer, my mom set up a user for each of us, and she picked everyone a unique wallpaper and mine was the sea with the little island and palm tree. And as I saw it, it brought back all those memories. :)
Memories, as the intersection between images, places, times, people, events, etc. gives us context. The problem with context is that, for all its uniqueness, the memory attached to it is easily triggered by the image alone. Even if you return to that image repeatedly, over a long time, it only evokes in your mind the original memory and the related context rather than the last one associated with that image. Nostalgia is the gentlest manifestation of the regret we associate with our inability to return (not re-create) to that context, due to the only quantity that is irreversible, non-repeatable and abstract: time. Photos immortalize a context, to create the memory, but because of their inability to stop time from moving on, they're also an endless source of nostalgia. Thank you for your video, and the irreversible time that went into that research to put it all together.
Oh, this brings back middle school memories... Autumn and Purple Flower were my favorite wallpapers for XP. I remember setting the wallpaper in my school computer every time we had class, because it was always changed to some goofy drawing made in Paint. The teacher used to change the computer assignment every few months, and one time i got assigned one of the old computers in the back of the room that ran between Windows 95 and 2000. I remember being sad of getting changed from the bright colors of XP to the dull looking older Windows. But thankfully i got the windows 2000 computer, and i discovered that it also had some good wallpapers, like Paradise and Snow trees. Every time i finished my work, be typing in Word, doing sums and tables in Excel, or programming some simple things in Visual Basic Express, i had that feeling of returning home. Of course it was only a brief moment before starting to play, some PJ64, or Vice City, or Re-Volt, depending on what my computer had. But sometimes good old Pinball was more than enough to have some fun. The next year they updated some computers to Vista and it had many good wallpapers but i started using ones that i downloaded in my dad's PC and brought in a floppy. I also got changed one more time to the old computers, but this time i started appreciating the old Windows. My dad taught me to use computers when i was a kid, with an old 98 machine, and it was fun to be the one guy that wasn't scared of the 800 by 600 resolution that some of that computers had. Maybe that was the time that i started liking this retro PC stuff. Now i still have my account in my dad's computer with Windows XP, and every time i return there i am greeted by Autumn, or Purple Flower. And some times i play a round of Pinball because it makes me fell like i'm in that time again (but also because it's still fun lol). Yeah, this video made me nostalgic. Just discovered this channel so i'm subscribing right now before going to "Why we all loved Windows 7". Keep up the great work!
Not me driving past this location a dozen times and not realizing I had this place as my wallpaper for my whole childhood, yet still instinctually knowing the general area this picture was taken from when you asked the question.
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bro when is this video gonna go live!!
Hi
That's my Driveway.............................................................In my DREAMS....
Looking at all your links I see none for where the get the picture. Where can I get it?
dat jab at Randroids
This really shows the importance of properly crediting photographers.
It's not their fault that people are obsessed with an image 😂
So many people misunderstood me. Oh, well.
Edit 2: The first part of my reply was sarcastic out of frustration with humanity's general mentality. The sarcasm caused misunderstanding. The main focus was about making the world a less toxic place in general. I see now, this is not the place for this subject matter.
@Xaina.Sarpenta yeah how cringe of people to find art moving and profound /s
@@Xaina.Sarpenta mate its literally so easy to credit and avoid goosechases like these. what a dramatic world this is :P
edit since the reply was removed, it was something along the lines of making fun of people for hunting down the photographer. even if it was just sarcastic like they said, it was still an L take as the kids say. and they could have just added a sarcasm tone indicator =P
@@informalnarwhals Yup, you're right! Microsoft has to help save the simple-minded people from themselves, because they can't save themselves from obsessing over miniscule things. 👍🏼
Autumn, originally known as Autumn Leaves, is a wallpaper included in Windows XP, licensed from Corbis. It was taken by Peter Burian in October 1999. It depicts a road covered in leaves in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
wow!
thank you
I could tell it was canada the moment I saw it I'm not even from the west
that's crazy, I went to university near there and never knew about this.
For some reason I thought it was from Montana.
It's really interesting how many people a simple freaking OS was able to touch. Windows XP was around for more than 15 years and everyone born pre-2005 probably remembers it one way or another.
For me it's a combination of Windows 98 and XP but I can't stop adoring the UI of the XP, the sounds, the friendlyness of the environment, the joys of using it to browse the then-new world of internet and play new games pushing boundaries of the gaming world. Beautiful memories.
Like, A drifter in my small town, it's amazing how many of us were touched by its grimey hands
the XP boot sound makes my soul leave my body
That and I can't stop seeing people flying around when "Ray of Light" plays in the background
How did a comment completely unrelated to the video get so many likes
Same… I‘m not even born pre-2005, but it still feels very nostalgic to me because we still used it as a daily driver when I was in kindergarten and we still use it from time to time because there‘s important files on the pc.
This was such a satisfying watch. Dude really went from having zero info, names, leads, or connections, to getting the photographer himself involved, to a confirmed location, to regular visitors taking their own photos, to finally getting _the actual uncompressed 5k file_ from 2002.
well said, andrew bird critter who's subscribed to cool cat
@@fryuaj :)
Considering the picture was taken in 1999 I wonder if there is a proper original somewhere, i.e. an actual slide. I can't imagine a professional photographer in 1999 shooting digitally, so I assume the picture was taken on film and scanned.
I find it so unfortunate that Microsoft and many other companies lean into minimalism so hard. It's hard to connect or make memories with something so bland. I wish this type of personality would come back. Vista has the most memories for me by far and there was so much that made it memorable. I hope we see a resurgence of this type of design and inclusion of art into the operating systems again.
I feel ya! Windows 7 was my nostalgic PC os. XP has its own place but yeah 7 is the shizz
@@liamjames-hendriks4895 I can understand the more simplistic beauty that went into 7's design and artwork, but Vista both felt abstract and connected with so much in every little detail. So that abstract art felt very good for my brain to imagine what may have been hard for me otherwise, and that connection with the art in the real world made it feel all connected. I feel like it was both in the name and the motto of being "clear, confident and connected" because a vista was something you can find in the real world, and it was also something that you could imagine. It just felt good for my imagination, how many times I just got mesmerized in thinking about its art and how beautiful it was to me.
I mean it exists. Run Linux.
@@kenosabi Linux isn't conducive to what I need nor prefer. I still use Vista thanks to ESUs and extended kernel.
windows 8 (8.1) had a charm to it to, even tho it was already somewhat minimalistic
Autumn was the wallpaper on my grandfather’s desktop for years. I spent a lot of time as a kid at my grandparent’s house and I deeply associate this image with hanging out in their basement playing flash games. I hadn’t seen it in over a decade until watching this video and it brought back a lot of good memories. He committed suicide two months ago so it was nice to think about the good old days for a bit. Thank you for bringing me some nostalgia.
I'm sorry for your loss, my gf also commited it. But at least we have good memories about them.
@@cheap_clips my condolences to you both 🌹🕯️
@@cheap_clips symmetry, hope they are in heaven.
@@cheap_clipsweak ass gf
RIP
Ah, I really miss when computers (and electronics in general) looked like this! They felt very warm, friendly and personal, from the sample images to the sound effects. Great video! ☺
Ah yes, I loved lugging my 50-pound monitor around when I needed it
@@jayman94fly Laptops have existed for a really long time, y'know!
@@jayman94fly
To be honest, the sample images and memorable sound effects are the reasons why I miss operating systems like Windows XP or Windows 7.
Friendliness was intentional, to make people acquainted to tech, as it was a new, unknown thing. Then, when people accepted tech, they started making it cold and uninviting again, which in my opinion was a mistake. You do not change the winning combination just because. I’ve been reading about how people are having increasingly negative opinion of technology, and it could be in part due to this.
Personally, when I think of Windows XP, it's not only Bliss & Autumn, which come to mind, but also a wallpaper under the name "Wind". Wind was a wallpaper of a sand dune with sand blowing to the right.
I remember that wallpaper vividly, as it was used in Windows Movie Maker 2.x
That was supposed to be the default wallpaper before Bliss, if you look at the beta releases
iirc that wallpaper was also shot by the same photographer who took the Bliss pic.
My favorite was using the silver theme with the Ripple background.
@@aprofondirthat's red moon desert, not wind. yes, microsoft in 2001 decided it was a good idea to put 2 desert located wallpapers. with the only differences being height, sand colour and time of day. great job, bill.
@@luismurag Red moon desert was, but Wind was taken by Jeff Vanuga, another Westlight photographer.
Interesting video! Every picture tells a story. FYI, I am the person behind the Windows Wallpaper Wiki and also started that fundraiser to get the full res version of Autumn. I also have multiple packs of wallpapers, which can be checked out online. I too have quite a drive for research; nowadays I've been researching ringtones and their composers, and obtaining credits, HQ versions and tones that didn't make the cut.
What you’re doing is so interesting but also so important, super cool and useful for establishing and preserving a big part of history
no way, you created ringtone bangers as well?!? genuinely thank you for all your work
@@Lucs100 thanks! Yes, I run Tech Product Bangers (as it's called now), I've still been uploading tracks to UA-cam and I sometimes post interviews too. Glad people are enjoying this!
Plus pack had a nice selection.
Can you share your work?
Autumn was my background of choice for my childhood, and so: Seeing it for the first time in so many years, is far more nostalgic than I ever thought possible. It's like looking at a picture of an old bedroom, every little detail is ingrained into my memory. Now, I want to watch this video, but I couldn't help but comment this as soon as you showed it in the video.
That wallpaper is so beautiful
The big payoff here for me is finding out in the end this is basically in my back yard. Burlington is 5 -10 minutes away from me, I've almost certainly been on this road at least once in my travels.
same bro, I've definitely been in the area of where this photo was taken. I live very close too
Do u know what road!?!?!?!
@@ryanducharme682 It's in the video
I had the autumn wallpaper as a little kid, just six-seven years old, on my Windows XP PC. I still remember it so well. It was magical.
You say how powerful memories can be....
It shows how powerful the internet is now compared to back in the day when it was just email, fax or telephone
.... or a Nokia haha..
Unreal, + now every generation can visit both, 'Bliss'' and 'Autumn's locations, this video is so heartwarming + beautiful.
also back then,alot of my internet friends only known by their username
It's nuts how the moment the video showed the Autumn photo, I felt emotional memories rushing back. Pictures really do carry so much.
There is no way. I distinctly remember asking my kindergarten teacher which place that photo was from ( I don't think I fully understood the concept of wallpapers) and it's kind of been on and off my mind since then. This is absolutely mindblowing, I thought me wondering was an irrelevant personal thing but turns out a lot of people felt the same thing.
I'm still very curious why Microsoft wouldn't credit the photographer, going so far as to say they couldn't credit him. I was hoping that would be explain, or at least mentioned again.
I am from Burlington, Canada and I have walked past this location a thousand times when I was about 4-9 years old. Never knew that it was so significant.
Things like THIS make me feel so proud of my generation - and it warms my heart seeing so many in my age range longing for that nostalgic, wholesome sort of feeling and seeking out content that inspires that. I feel like for a while, the world felt cynical - and honestly it makes me feel better seeing so many people out there placing so much value on things like this, or musical cues and little nuanced pieces of media from the past that have gone rather unnoticed. It's beautiful, honestly. That's how I was as a kid - just very curious, very interested in everything music and film and TV and computer-related and very observant. Hearing old Windows sounds or sounds from old PC games - these old wallpapers... this is stuff that really made an impact, surprisingly. I would hope the creators of some of these pieces of media would be happy to know there are weird folks out here like us who care enough to value their work so much. :)
Love to see that image get a bit of attention compared to bliss. Personally, when i think of XP, it's not bliss that comes to mind, it's autumn, simply for the fact that around 2011, when i was in middle school, the computers all ran XP, with Autumn in the background.
bliss has always been more popular than this what are you talking about
@@svicidellvma He never said otherwise, obviously Bliss is more popular.
For me autumn was the azul wallpaper. A calm and sunny white beach with a few lonely trees, a lone sailboat, blue water and bluer skies. I could almost smell it sitting in front of the computer. XP had some amazing wallpapers, Come to think of it.
Yup. Azul was the bees knees!
Yeah, Azul, the wallpaper that you can sense the smell of salt and the wind just by looking at it
I remember my grandpa from my mom's side had this wallpaper on his PC. I used to sit on his lap and watch him browse stuff and assort his files, and sometimes he'd let me watch videos and play some games on it- it was probably the machine that I watched some of my first GMod animations and shitposts.
He passed away about 4 years ago, due to some odd leg infection and his physical condition getting worse over time. It was probably almost 15 years ago by now...
Grandma
shall they rest in peace, 🫡, oh yeah, it's grandma instead of "grandpa from my mother's side", unless you meant the grandpa of your mother.
I never had a good relationship with my grandpa, but I can understand the feeling. May he rest in peace.
@@HOURHAK
My mom's father, my grandpa.
@@benjaminzarkhin1293 thanks for the clarification.
Random fact: Apparently deadmau5 lives pretty close to the location of the wallpaper, someone posted your video on Reddit and he commented saying he lives very close by lol
I recall the lost "skyscrapers" wallpapers for companies and educators.
And they always looked liminal to me, a place like an oasis of a infinite sized skyscraper.
Does anyone remember these?
Can you elaborate more on what these were
@@subpar7404 Some photos of a bright blue sky and endless windows.
These I'd thought were very classic to me or well known.
I was wrong, only a personal thing.
Some of them had clouds and in the reflection of them in the windows.
These were like for professionals or people of work, who got these.
Windows 7/8 wallpapers.
@@TOPGWAFDude01 Are you talking about the Architecture theme of Windows 7?
@@pabblo1 Not, not really most of the stalk photos of the blue skyscrapers, I cannot find in that themepack.
I don't know where these photos came from. If the school still has some of the old computers I'll try to rip them online tho.
@@TOPGWAFDude01interesting
I'm a bit younger so I honestly forgot that it was an XP wallpaper, but I always found myself noticing places where the formation of trees resembles this image. I've now finally realized that I have such a nostalgic connection to it because the computer in my classroom had it as a wallpaper. This was in my elementary school days, anywhere between 2010 and 2014.
Wow! Didn't realized that my own earlier video documenting about this wallpaper got featured in one of my subscriptions list's video 😄. Thank you for highlighting my documentary! and also your content is very entertaining and amazing as always 😉.
Your channel is great!! Keep up the amazing work!! :)
16 likes and 1 replie what
Autumn was my favorite default WXP wallpaper. I've since forgotten about it because as a teenager, I cared more about custom wallpapers. But this was my favorite default. I never knew it had such a big mystery behind it.
So now it is time that you get those wallpapers again and add them in your shuffle!
I knew it would be in Canada based off the leaves. Beautiful.. Can't believe it only cost them $45!
I libe near Burlington guess I have to visit it now
This hits, because it's a liminal space. You're description of "it could be literally anywhere" nails it. That's a liminal space. They always have a mix a familiarity and mystery because your brain wants to figure out where it is
It's hard to believe there are people who unironically call Autumn a depressing season.
I’d argue the depressing season is Winter. It’s dull, bland, daylight doesn’t last long, cold, etc.
@@Redsfanatic32 Depression has no season. Except maybe Summer, I hate that one.
Summer is an awful season
Not depressing but more so the representation of a big change. A change that has a somber feeling to it, but it’s also beautiful from another perspective. Transformative
@@harukami912 there actually is a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in which the specific season brings about an episode of depression every year. It can range from mild sadness to severe, debilitating depression during that season. The agreed upon cause is the reduction in sunlight and increased darkness, which can lower seratonin and increase the feeling of loneliness, isolation, and sadness in some people. Usually, light therapy can treat the issue
this image is absolutely mystical. the emotions that it causes me to feel seem almost indescribable. there's this air of mystery about it, like what could be hiding beyond those trees? where even was the image taken? who took it? if i didnt know any better, i would think that it was taken from one of my dreams. it would explain why it felt so extremely foreign to me, yet also felt exactly like home. it makes you feel warmth from the comfort it provides, yet a subtle cold from its mysterious nature. it reminds me of those old visual novels, mostly romance ones. i really wish i could escape to that exact image, in that exact point in time that it was taken, and just stay there for a while
Also, the atumn wallpaper goes perfectly with the zune theme, almost like they were meant for each other
right????? god, I used them together for so many years lol
wow. i was not expecting this little piece of digital history to have originated 20 minutes from my house. honestly amazing how small the world is, even the digital one
when i was a little kid, i would used to go to this one dentist. it was a rather small office. in the waiting room, there was a computer with windows xp. on that computer, it also had the autumn wallpaper. i had fond memories of not being able to use the computer because someone else was hogging it the entire time i was there but that was my first memory of seeing the autumn wallpaper and seeing windows xp. good times.
wow beautifull memory ♥
There's something special about the thought of having a photo of a location but not knowing where it is, doing a search to figure out where the photo was taken, and then actually visiting the place. Especially considering the ravages of time sometimes aren't so kind and the window of opportunity to do such a thing might close. Old places that got photographed might not always still exist in the future, so being able to experience a place for yourself could be something truly precious.
Autumn was my personal favorite. I first saw it on a school library computer and I started using it shortly after over the default
Autumn and Azul were my favourite wallpapers in Windows XP, they just make you feel calm and relaxed. Watching these wallpapers now makes me feel like that it was only yesterday when I was a kid and used to play games and mess around with Windows XP settings and wallpaper.
This channel is literally one of the best I've ever watched on this platform, top notch editing and storytelling, love you NationSquid, and keep making these special videos for us
Very nice, Joseph Stalin
I always dreamt of driving down that road to my Cabin in the woods, leaves flying behind my convertible with the Verve's Bittersweet Symphony blasting on the radio. Lol it's a mashed up nostalgia 90s fever dream with Cruel Intentions sprinkled in there 🤣💕
It was taken by Peter Burian in October 1999. It depicts a road covered in leaves in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
It’s scary how I lived my entire life in the desert yet feel nostalgic when I see pictures of greenery
Weird huh
try as you might; whenever XP is mentioned, bliss follows after. Bliss still appeared several times throughout the video which just goes to show the power Bliss had and continues to have. Sure Autumn has power through mystery and slight nostalgia, but Bliss has the power to be the first thing you think of when XP is brought up.
I remember this image very fondly as many of my teachers at school used it, and a few had the silver theme as well. Always shown on the projector screen and was really warm and inviting. In Florida we don’t really get these colors so it’s really nice to see.
This is the wallpaper I use on all my XP VMs!
I really like it (because my cats name is also Autumn)
cat wallpapers > nature wallpapers
@@esoterik12 👎👎👎👎
@@esoterik12 either is good :)
How did u comment this 4hrs ago the video is 46 minutes old
@@Everything_60they're probably a patreon subscriber. UA-camrs will let people view videos before they go public
The sheer quality of this video was enough to not skip a second to discover the answer, rather get hooked with it gradually go on with the flow. Nice work. ❤️
What a video! Sure, Bliss was and always will be the best one for me, but Autumn just had something so captivating about it. Autumn was so real yet fake, so near yet so far, so comforting and yet so full of mystery.
I’ve lived 15 minutes away from the Autumn location most of my life, certainly during the whole XP period and often used this wallpaper. Had no idea until this year.
Funnily enough, there was a tile called LEAVES.BMP in Windows 3.1 that was removed in later versions. My mom used in and missed the autumn leaves after upgrading Windows so I found it for her and upscaled in bitmap editor so the continuous tile will work on higher resolution.
that autumn wallpaper was my favorite wallpaper back when I was a kid. as someone who didn’t grew up on a country that has no four seasons every time I turn on the computer and look at the wallpaper I always wish I could experience autumn someday and during my child mind it seems so impossible because my family is not really well off. and now that I live in Canada to experience it autumn is one of my fave season 🍂 ❤
I remember watching UA-cam videos where the guy pointed out that it says "HELL" on the wooden fence.
12 year old me was scared shitless that bill gates himself was the devil and was coming for me for using this wallpaper
12 year old you may have been half right lmao
What a lovely video. It was very heart warming
Just looking at the default Windows XP wallpapers hurts and for some reason, looking at Autumn hurts even more than Bliss. But it's a good kind of pain as it, as you mentioned, feels like returning home where it's safe and there isn't a thing in the world to worry about. Crazy how a computer operating system can embed itself into one's mind and just stay there representing a wonderful time long gone by.
These kinds of stories is what makes/made the internet great, people all over the world who collectively investigate something small and find the answer together. I hate most of the modern day internet (like TikTok and Instagram etc.) but this is what makes the internet amazing.
I’ve been watching your videos for about a year now and your endings are always so beautifully worded that they bring tears to my eyes! Thank you so much for all of the hard work that you do to deliver us such great content. ❤
Literally gonna start sobbing, not only do I have incredible nostalgia and love for older Windows versions, 2024 is so hostile and cold and so many people can't see eye to eye, but a wallpaper, a simple pre-installed JPEG in XP brought so many people together, from different beliefs, different places, different backgrounds, just to find it. That's REAL humanity.
This is such an amazing story. I always liked Autumn more than Bliss or Azure because of the warm tones. Easy on the eyes.
Nowadays, I feel like we could have just asked GeoGuessr players like Rainbolt to find the location. Would not have helped to track down the photographer though.
Wow. Well narrated. Never knew someone did this. Its as if we are going back in search of our childhood friend. We are all nostalgia driven.
Literally my favorite xp wallpaper! ❤
That ending segment you made got me a little emotional hahaha. Thank you for a great video!
I remember clearly using this wallpaper back then, I live in a country where Autumn doesn't exist, so for a child to see that maybe for the first time, it captivated me and quickly became my favorite along Bliss, Ascent and Red moon desert. To this day I still dream of traveling to one of these places and see it with my own eyes, for people who live up north is not a big deal, happens every year, but for me at least, is something I long to see.
As a side note, I don't know why, but as you finished your video talking about how memories can be powerful, Halo 3 epilogue theme started playing in my head, I don't know why, but it probably goes along the whole memories thing, it suited your conclusion really well though!
What country is that, if I may ask?
Autumn feels like cold cozy mornings. With a warm breeze. Sweaters nd hot chocolate. Pumpkins nd early sunsets, making the days orange. Autumn is calm and peaceful. I grew up in this area. Was magical. This video hit different. If anyone knows the map’s location please reach out to me.
Really gives you that warm fuzzy feeling
I'm on a M2 MacBook Pro 0:05 is actually my wallpaper right now xD
my family had xp for ages and when i was finally old enough to have my own user account on the family computer i got tired of bliss so i changed it to autumn. it stayed that way until the computer finally kicked the bucket in about 2015. super cool to find out where my favorite wallpaper actually came from, thank you!
I Love Bliss Wallpaper alot and I wish both Windows 10/11 had Windows XP's GUI Theme Luna Green Start Button Blue Taskbar and blue titlebars with that one orange X button.
@@Alexeira13 Why not?
You can get one very close to it with custom themes
@@wayge Yeah but I one day want the real thing in a Modern Windows OS the way that it looked head-to-toe in Windows XP.
This wallpaper recall me with so much memory during windows xp days. Im always in awe everytime i saw this wallpaper and it always fit with midnight internet surfing mood back those days.
GREAT storytelling man, truly appreciated the message behind this story because it showed me how many great stories can be hidden even behind small things. We often don't realize it because time passes quickly and inexorably, but it's so true. Also love all this channel content and and editing, sooo immersive🧡
Autumn was my favorite wallpaper when I was 6. I 100% believe it shaped my weather preferences. I love rain and cold weather and rainy fall/winter backgrounds
rainbolt gotta see this.
This made me so emotional. Thanks for this video. I grew up with windows XP so these old wallpapers really stick with me and I’m so happy to see how hard people worked to restore the glory of the original photograph!!!!!
I got information for you!
Autumn, originally known as Autumn Leaves, is a wallpaper included in Windows XP, licensed from Corbis. It was taken by Peter Burian in October 1999. It depicts a road covered in leaves in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
any source?
that is exactly what the video is telling us
@@elzee9196 but what is that cabin in the background
@@teamrocketundercoveragent. uhhh, it's an abandoned barn owned by the Harris Estate. He says so right in the video lol do yall click on these and just not watch it? weird
@@MidnyteWolf Ikr, imagine not watching the video 💀💀
This image is so nostalgic for me, even more than Bliss. Autumn was my favourite season as a kid and this image really expressed the beauty and comfort of it.
I never actually noticed that there was a wooden hut at the end of that road. I thought these were just tree trunks close together in a dense coniferous forest.
Maybe it's just the nostalgia, but that image, and the other wallpapers really had a childlike feeling of wonder and happiness with them. Not knowing where it was made it feels almost like a mystical place. I made the HD version my new desktop background again just to relive that nostalgia.
This was my favourite xp wallpaper!
i used to spend countless hours with my buddy looking up guitar tabs on a windows xp machine through the 2000s. this wallpaper definitely stands out as the one he had on it. as well as the chess pieces for the user profile image.
Well done! Four minutes of content stretched into a 17-minute video. I'm impressed!!!
been loving the personal touches lately, the little bits of humor and facecam add a lot
Would love to see a video of the downfall of skype.
Keep up the great work!
Even thought this is a distant childhood memory now, this video recalled that I used to love the Autumn wallpaper from Windows XP and I also remember the Sunset wallpaper.
The geoguesser guy could find this in a few seconds tops 😅
Crazy how seeing some windows backgrounds can bring back memories of our time with XP! Great video!
Thanks KCC! Good to see you here! :)
For those that don't want to waste time. 14:16
This one is actually my favourite XP wallpaper. One of my teachers as a kid had it as her wallpaper and it always stuck in my mind. I have the full resolution version saved on my current PC!
Preventing people from saying second
Second
@@shepardpower Scandalous acts! Thou was not second, in fact, you weren't even third.
@testvideos4837 no, someone else already said "preventing people from saying first", i was second.
Those vintage backgrounds were really good! The Autumn one was really chill
Autumn is great and all but Bliss is the goat
Omg! When we finally got our- then modern first computer, my mom set up a user for each of us, and she picked everyone a unique wallpaper and mine was the sea with the little island and palm tree. And as I saw it, it brought back all those memories. :)
Memories, as the intersection between images, places, times, people, events, etc. gives us context.
The problem with context is that, for all its uniqueness, the memory attached to it is easily triggered by the image alone. Even if you return to that image repeatedly, over a long time, it only evokes in your mind the original memory and the related context rather than the last one associated with that image.
Nostalgia is the gentlest manifestation of the regret we associate with our inability to return (not re-create) to that context, due to the only quantity that is irreversible, non-repeatable and abstract: time. Photos immortalize a context, to create the memory, but because of their inability to stop time from moving on, they're also an endless source of nostalgia.
Thank you for your video, and the irreversible time that went into that research to put it all together.
ask those pro geoguesser player for help
Oh, this brings back middle school memories...
Autumn and Purple Flower were my favorite wallpapers for XP. I remember setting the wallpaper in my school computer every time we had class, because it was always changed to some goofy drawing made in Paint. The teacher used to change the computer assignment every few months, and one time i got assigned one of the old computers in the back of the room that ran between Windows 95 and 2000. I remember being sad of getting changed from the bright colors of XP to the dull looking older Windows. But thankfully i got the windows 2000 computer, and i discovered that it also had some good wallpapers, like Paradise and Snow trees. Every time i finished my work, be typing in Word, doing sums and tables in Excel, or programming some simple things in Visual Basic Express, i had that feeling of returning home. Of course it was only a brief moment before starting to play, some PJ64, or Vice City, or Re-Volt, depending on what my computer had. But sometimes good old Pinball was more than enough to have some fun.
The next year they updated some computers to Vista and it had many good wallpapers but i started using ones that i downloaded in my dad's PC and brought in a floppy. I also got changed one more time to the old computers, but this time i started appreciating the old Windows. My dad taught me to use computers when i was a kid, with an old 98 machine, and it was fun to be the one guy that wasn't scared of the 800 by 600 resolution that some of that computers had. Maybe that was the time that i started liking this retro PC stuff. Now i still have my account in my dad's computer with Windows XP, and every time i return there i am greeted by Autumn, or Purple Flower. And some times i play a round of Pinball because it makes me fell like i'm in that time again (but also because it's still fun lol).
Yeah, this video made me nostalgic. Just discovered this channel so i'm subscribing right now before going to "Why we all loved Windows 7". Keep up the great work!
What's with the vooooiiiicccceeee at the end of sentences? I've heard other UA-camrs do ttthhhiiissss...
As someone born and raised in Burlington with this screen, and living 10 mins from there...I never knew this until now.
r/windowsxp is a private community
damnit
fucken api protests
If you click on the three dots besides the link you can access the site cache.
This was the background on the laptop I broke with window cleaner as a kid...
Can you provide the link of the image? Since the Reddit is private.
Not me driving past this location a dozen times and not realizing I had this place as my wallpaper for my whole childhood, yet still instinctually knowing the general area this picture was taken from when you asked the question.
Just put Rainbolt on the case-
Awesome video and great ending thoughts. I never knew of this autumn wallpaper voyage. Very interesting!
yoshimitsu make a plagiarism
YEAH
I remember Autumn in Windows XP. It was beautiful
Preventing pee
IT WAS YOU!
Windows xp had the most memorable wallpapers, we'll never forget them😢