Microsoft is bringing the nostalgia with this year’s ‘Windows Ugly Sweater’

Microsoft is known worldwide for its innovation in tech, but the company also has a secret, more seasonal skillset. Microsoft is the master of creating ugly sweaters.

Each year the company releases a design for it’s ‘Windows Ugly Sweater’. Last year, this featured the iconic pop-up paper clip, Clippy. This year, the tech giant has made a jumper out of possibly the most well-known computer background (and one of the most viewed photographs) in the world – the Windows XP Bliss wallpaper.

The Bliss wallpaper was captured by Charles O’Rear in 1996, and was sold as a stock photo, before being purchased by Microsoft in 2000 and made the default wallpaper for Windows XP. The sweater builds upon the classic image, with the addition of a mouse pointer hovering around the midriff, and a blue hemming that echoes the signature bright blue taskbar of the operating system. Microsoft says: “It looks good on a monitor, but better on you.”

The ‘Windows Ugly Sweater’ isn’t just about style, however, as Microsoft’s proceeds from each sale go the The Nature Conservancy, an organisation which is all about saving the planet’s lands and waters. Microsoft are even throwing in a bunch of Bliss-inspired wallpapers to deck out your desktop or phone, bringing that classic nostalgia straight to your everyday.

The ‘Blissmas’ sweater costs $69.99 and is available at the Xbox Gear Shop.

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