Desktop background colors, by operating system

2009 · Haiku

The open-source heir to BeOS — same focused desktop, same signature blue.

1987 · Windows

Dithering, abandoned: Windows 2.0 just used the cyan straight.

1995 · Windows

Teal defined the era — the first face millions saw at boot.

1993 · Windows

The first Windows NT — a 32-bit workstation dressed in Program Manager teal.

1990 · Amiga

The gray refresh: Workbench 2.0 traded blue for a cool 3D gray.

1985 · Amiga

Four-color glory: the unmistakable Workbench palette.

1995 · BeOS

The multimedia OS with a calm, steady blue desktop.

2020 · BleskOS

A tiny hobby OS with a boldly green desktop.

1999 · GEM

GEM lives on — a desktop dithered from gray and blue.

2024 · Desktop Env.

The modern, endlessly tweakable Linux desktop — anchored by Breeze blue.

1997 · Mac OS

Platinum-era desktop patterns in soft, muted accents.

2016 · ReactOS

The open-source Windows, rebuilt from nothing — classic desktop, real colors.

2018 · SerenityOS

A love letter to '90s desktops — built from scratch, themed to the teeth.

2002 · Solaris

CDE backdrops and the violet field behind an iconic Solaris watermark.

1985 · Windows

The first Windows — a desktop dithered from two colors to fake a third.

2000 · Windows

A polished blue-gray palette that bridged two eras.

1990 · Windows

The release that made Windows a success — and let you recolor the whole desktop.

1992 · Windows

The desktop that taught the world to point and click — with a scheme for every taste.

1998 · Windows

The familiar teal desktop, now folded into the web.

2000 · Windows

The last of the 9x line — dressed in Windows Classic blue.

1996 · Windows

The NT kernel meets the Windows 95 shell — teal desktop and all.

1996 · Desktop Env.

A lightweight Unix desktop with a broad, practical palette.