L
Lord Possum
My earlier posting that questioned freeware screen savers brought forth
a thread of responses that covered a lot of ground and interpretations.
Perhaps it might be within the purview of a.c.f. to make a concensus
determination of just what is a "screen saver" in the first place.
Purists that responded argued that most screen-savers were not savers at
all, but rather screen-users. I think we can all agree that the term
originated as a solid black, no lit pixel, screen which would indeed
preserve a longer life for the phosphor coatings of our monitor CRT.
Then another few responses opined that "screen-savers" were no more, no
less than one or more still pictures that might fade in and out like a
slide show, maybe with some background music. These might be easily
constructed with the aid of some program for the purpose.
A third definition, which I adhere to, comprises some sort of action
and sound, sort of like a movie. The famous Sachs aquariums are examples
of this genre. The recently revived version of Johnny Castaway for
Windows is another.
So, when I go looking for "Screen Savers", I'd like to see some sort of
indication in the title which might save me needless trials and
downloads, as many offerings do not indicate.
Most of all, I want Screen-Savers of whichever kind to work as a
standalone .SCR file, contain not one shred of advertising or begging,
and finally ... does not require the prospective user to jump through
hoops (email address, apply for free password, or answer surveys, etc).
THOSE AIN'T FREE.
a thread of responses that covered a lot of ground and interpretations.
Perhaps it might be within the purview of a.c.f. to make a concensus
determination of just what is a "screen saver" in the first place.
Purists that responded argued that most screen-savers were not savers at
all, but rather screen-users. I think we can all agree that the term
originated as a solid black, no lit pixel, screen which would indeed
preserve a longer life for the phosphor coatings of our monitor CRT.
Then another few responses opined that "screen-savers" were no more, no
less than one or more still pictures that might fade in and out like a
slide show, maybe with some background music. These might be easily
constructed with the aid of some program for the purpose.
A third definition, which I adhere to, comprises some sort of action
and sound, sort of like a movie. The famous Sachs aquariums are examples
of this genre. The recently revived version of Johnny Castaway for
Windows is another.
So, when I go looking for "Screen Savers", I'd like to see some sort of
indication in the title which might save me needless trials and
downloads, as many offerings do not indicate.
Most of all, I want Screen-Savers of whichever kind to work as a
standalone .SCR file, contain not one shred of advertising or begging,
and finally ... does not require the prospective user to jump through
hoops (email address, apply for free password, or answer surveys, etc).
THOSE AIN'T FREE.
