The real-life hills of the Windows XP wallpaper !

There's a good chance this vista looks strangely familiar to you, but you can't quite place it.
That's because it's the real-life landscape used as the default wallpaper for Windows XP, making it one of the most viewed images ever.

While many people think the Windows image is a digital creation, it was actually snapped in California’s Sonoma Valley.

Photographer Chuck O’Rear took it as he drove along Highway 121. And he must be glad he did, he received one of the largest amounts ever paid to a living, working photographer.

It is predicted the image has been seen by and enjoyed by billions of people -- even some Mac users.

Speaking of the image, which he took through a wire fence with a handheld camera Chuck said: "Photographers like to become famous for pictures they created.

"I didn’t ‘create’ this. I just happened to be there at the right moment and documented it."

O'Rear has spent 25 years travelling the world for National Geographic and has took pictures in 30 countries and every state in the US.