Windows 7

Windows 7 is an operating system released by Microsoft in 2009. It is the successor of Windows Vista. Compared to Vista, it was much more successful and received more positive reception. It would be followed by Windows 8 in 2012. For beta wallpapers, see Windows 7 Beta.

Wallpapers
For Windows 7's wallpapers, Microsoft continued to rely on rights managed images from Getty Images and Corbis, as with previous versions. However, they also licensed images from other sources, such as SIME/4Corners Images, Photolibrary, individual photographers' PhotoShelters, and hired artists. They also worked with photographer Will Austin, who assisted Microsoft with selecting six wallpapers from his stock collection, as they wanted a local Seattle flavor in 7's themes.

While Windows Vista included a set of 16:10 widescreen wallpapers, this is also the first Windows version where all of the wallpapers are 1920x1200, as more people had widescreen displays by 2009.

The default wallpaper is img0, created by Chuck Anderson and Erik Attkisson. Whereas XP and Vista Starter editions have unique wallpaper sets, 7 only has one wallpaper for its Starter edition, which is an edited version of its default wallpaper.

Regional
20 countries received a theme of six wallpapers of their country. Microsoft would license images from an even wider range of agencies, including the ones mentioned above as well as Masterfile, age fotostock and JupiterImages (which was acquired by Getty during 7's development). Jennifer Shepherd also hosted a worldwide photo contest where Microsoft employees worldwide were able to submit photos that represent their country. Employees of each country voted on the best wallpapers for their theme, including both stock photos and winning images from the contest.

The team produced a total of 40 themes, two for each country. 20 of these are included in 7, while the other 20 were available for download as soon as 7 was released.

As there are so many of them, they will not be listed here until further notice.

Sample Pictures
7 has 8 sample pictures. Half of them are royalty free Corbis images; the other half were taken by Microsoft employees. Like with Vista's sample pictures, they are at 1024x768.

User Account Pictures
They mostly come from Getty Images and are a mixture of royalty free and rights managed, with some coming from Corbis and hired artists. They are at 128x128. [todo]