It may not look like much but new desktop backgrounds are one of the most interesting features of any new OS release, be it mobile or desktop. For one, it constitutes the biggest visual element of your desktop and is the first thing that you notice when you boot up a new system. Moreover, it is the image that is going to be most widely circulated on tech forums when the OS is launched, and there are many who won’t bother to change it for a long, long time.
This here is Microsoft’s new background wallpaper for the upcoming Windows 10 OS. Captured by photographer Bradley Munkowitz in a studio in San Francisco, it is based around a Windows logo just like Windows 7, and unlike the daisies in Windows 8 and an aurora in Windows Vista. Before this the Bliss desktop theme on Windows XP is probably the most iconic desktop photo, depicting a grassy hill set against blue skies and white clouds.
Munkowitz, a production designer and artist best known for his work on Oblivion and the Tron: Legacy movie, wanted to create a glass portal with light shining through the Windows logo. Taking inspiration from the futuristic movie he has worked on, his team used camera mapping techniques, lasers, and projectors to create the new hero image that will be used on millions of PCs that ship with Windows 10.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has worked with a forward-thinking artist for its products. Ambient-music legend Brian Eno composed the famous startup chime for Windows 95.
For a more in depth look at how Microsoft arrived at his logo, check out the video below.
