(Desktop-morphing hacks can’t grab the desktop because Apple’s X server doesn’t implement what would be some rather complicated Quartz -> X business X apps aren’t allowed to take over the display so the dock still runs and makes it useless as a screenlocker. Xscreensaver has some minor issues under OS X. (Yes, I know screensavers were/are designed to prevent monitor burn, but you can accomplish much the same thing by shutting off your monitor or having it go into standby.) I might have to look into this further… The idea of using a slideshow screensaver for presentation purposes is quite interesting to me, though, in that it’s giving an actual function to something I’ve often found functionless. (the annoyance factor kicking in if you foolishly and stupidly choose a screensaver that utlizes sound effects) the first few times you use it, it’s “WOW THE TOASTERS ARE FLYING AWESOME MAN,” yet after a while it quickly becomes boring, if not annoying. Besides, screensavers suffer from “acute novelty factor syndrome,” i.e. If I’m going to tax my system, I at least want it to be with something I’ll actually get a chance to look at, if not interact with. I don’t need my computer to jump through hoops to render something that’ll only show up when I’m not around, as it doesn’t make sense. Personally, all I do is set my monitor to go into standby after 20 minutes of inactivity. Second, make the planet a better place to be is not the responsibility of my screen saver. The Marine Aquarium from SereneScreen is another. The built-in Flurry screen saver in Mac OS X is a good example. I really don’t care if the processor time involved in rendering 3D fish is wear and tear on my system. I have two meager requirements for my screen saver:įirst and foremost, it must take advantage of my hardware. Tuck in there a variety of other visually entertaining modules, a couple of reasonably entertaining games whose name I’ve forgotten, and you’ve got a niche market which must have made some money for Berkeley Systems… well enough that they had some breathing room to create the You Don’t Know Jack series, sell off to Sierra On-line and just plain vanish. As I think back, what they really demonstrated was the evolution of graphics moving from blocky pixels to photo realistic toasters with wings. Like most kids of the 80s, After Dark was the shit with the Flying Toasters module leading the charge. There is a fundamental contradiction in paying for something which assumes your absence. Screen savers were, and are, a tool which is intended to do something while YOU AREN’T THERE. It doesn’t take two cups of coffee on Sunday morning to figure out why the screen saver market never bloomed into a full blown industry.
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