Have you ever wondered where the Windows XP Bliss field really is? Does it at all exist or is it just a composition?

The answer to this question is: Yes, it does exist!

Like every movie has its locations and people wanting to go there, the same thing goes for famous "computer"-locations. This could be the Apple HQ on The Infite Loop (cool name for a road btw.) or the Googleplex. It could also be a somewhat more anonymous location to many just known as "Bliss.jpg". The infamous green field, that every Windows XP user knows.

The Bliss field is now a winefield and is located on:

3050 Fremont Dr. (Sonoma Hwy.)
Sonoma, CA.
United States of America

The original Bliss image was taken by American photographer Charles O'Rear sometime in 1996.

Of course you can find the hill on Google StreetView.

Have fun making your own bliss image, now you know the location. :-)

More

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss_(image)

Bliss today: http://www.goldinsenneby.com/gs/?p=81

Yesterday Microsoft released the beta version of Internet Explorer 9 - and I must say it looks pretty good. First of all the GUI is simple and reminds one of Google Chrome or the upcoming Mozilla Firefox 4 (currently in beta as well). There are no annoying unescessary buttons or icons, it is pretty much reduced to a back button, a forward button and a home button (the latter, I could live without). The usual bookmark star and the options cog wheel are there as well. That is it.

On my Lenovo T400s the browser loads fast and performs very well. Pages are displayed instantly, much like Apple Safari or Google Chrome. Microsoft did not try to put more features into their browser, they took GUI stuff out - or at least hided the stuff you do not use anyway. Since this is a beta version I am not going to describe the GUI in a whole lot of detail as it is subject to change. The first impression is good, but when you scratch the surface remnants of the old IE8 GUI pops up (e.g. the bookmarks side bar). I hope Microsoft will give the rest of GUI a much needed facelift.

In my opinion, the text on the pages have a better antialiasing than e.g. Google Chrome. The antialiasing in Google Chrome is similar to the one used in Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari. It looks really cool with smooth fonts.

If you look at the screenshot you will notice a small white strip between the page and the tab bar. I am sure this will annoy many web developers because it looks like a margin. I hope Microsoft will remove it in future releases.

That is what I have to say for now. The beta is out, go get it, do what any good developer do: Test your websites before your customers do!

You can download the beta from here (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista only): http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/download/ie-9/worldwide

Happy programming!