Screensavers and Computer Dreams

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There is no evidence that 10 PRINT ... was designed as a screensaver. No one seems to have made a claim that this program is useful for preventing phosphor burn-in and that it would be worthwhile to type it in and run it before leaving one's computer for a cup of coffee. Still, it is a non-interactive, endlessly looping program that produces a changing and not entirely regular image. If one had to put this program into some familiar pigeonhole, "screensaver," although it might be a somewhat degrading one, would not be too poor of a choice. So, why not consider the program alongside screensavers and their antecedents?

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There is no evidence that 10 PRINT was designed as a screensaver. No one seems to have made a claim that this program is useful for preventing phosphor burn-in and that it would be worthwhile to type it in and run it before leaving one's computer for a cup of coffee. Still, it is a non-interactive, endlessly looping program that produces a changing and not entirely regular image. If one had to put this program into some familiar pigeonhole, "screensaver," although it might be a somewhat degrading one, would not be too poor of a choice. So, why not consider the program alongside screensavers and their antecedents?

Several sources attribute the first screensaver, at least for personal computers, to John Socha, who also developed the file manager Norton Commander. The December 1983 issue of ''Softalk for the IBM Personal Computer'' presented Socha's program scrnsave, which simply blanked the screen of a PC after three minutes of idleness. The history of the modern screensaver begins with this degenerate case, this simplest possible image. Many waves of looping motion pictures, often generated from code rather than relying on the simple display of images, would follow that first absence of image, through to contemporary computing in our age of phosphor-free flat panel displays.

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Some screensavers create very abstract patterns that have no simple interpretation, even as something like an abstract maze. Others, like the early Windows "Starfield" and the Windows 95 "Maze" (which shows movement through a 3D, RPG-like maze) suggest that the computer is a vehicle for exploration. These screensavers live alongside those that play with our perceptions of life, inviting us to think about how technologies relate to creatures like fish and birds. But in addition to all of these, there are screensavers that accumulate structures in a way that suggests industrious, technical production. The Windows 95 "Pipes" screensaver is a fairly famous example. It assembles 3D tangles of multi-colored pipes which become impossibly dense and intricate. This screensaver does more plumbing work in a few minutes than Nintendo's Mario has done in his lifetime. The busy visuals show that the computer is hard at work, even though its user is not interacting with it. While the image is pleasing to look at, it also projects a more serious image than the frivolous flying toaster or simulated fishtank.

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While 10 PRINT ... is extremely abstract, its generation process is more easily interpreted as one of furious construction rather than as, for instance, the amusing simulation of life, or even as something that is completely abstract and disconnected from culture. 10 PRINT ... suggests that the computer is a maker of structures, is tireless and produces these at a regular rate, and can create patterns that are both pleasing to view and perplexing to walk through. While the Windows 95 "Maze" screensaver provides the viewpoint of Theseus (or perhaps the Minotaur), 10 PRINT ... shows us the maze as seen by Daedalus: from the mind's eye of the architect, we share the imagination of a structure continually in the process of being built.

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While 10 PRINT is extremely abstract, its generation process is more easily interpreted as one of furious construction rather than as, for instance, the amusing simulation of life, or even as something that is completely abstract and disconnected from culture. 10 PRINT suggests that the computer is a maker of structures, is tireless and produces these at a regular rate, and can create patterns that are both pleasing to view and perplexing to walk through. While the Windows 95 "Maze" screensaver provides the viewpoint of Theseus (or perhaps the Minotaur), 10 PRINT shows us the maze as seen by Daedalus: from the mind's eye of the architect, we share the imagination of a structure continually in the process of being built.

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-There is no evidence that 10 PRINT ... was designed as a screensaver. No one seems to have made a claim that this program is useful for preventing phosphor burn-in and that it would be worthwhile to type it in and run it before leaving one's computer for a cup of coffee. Still, it is a non-interactive, endlessly looping program that produces a changing and not entirely regular image. If one had to put this program into some familiar pigeonhole, "screensaver," although it might be a somewhat degrading one, would not be too poor of a choice. So, why not consider the program alongside screensavers and their antecedents?
+There is no evidence that 10 PRINT was designed as a screensaver. No one seems to have made a claim that this program is useful for preventing phosphor burn-in and that it would be worthwhile to type it in and run it before leaving one's computer for a cup of coffee. Still, it is a non-interactive, endlessly looping program that produces a changing and not entirely regular image. If one had to put this program into some familiar pigeonhole, "screensaver," although it might be a somewhat degrading one, would not be too poor of a choice. So, why not consider the program alongside screensavers and their antecedents?
 Several sources attribute the first screensaver, at least for personal computers, to John Socha, who also developed the file manager Norton Commander. The December 1983 issue of ''Softalk for the IBM Personal Computer'' presented Socha's program scrnsave, which simply blanked the screen of a PC after three minutes of idleness. The history of the modern screensaver begins with this degenerate case, this simplest possible image. Many waves of looping motion pictures, often generated from code rather than relying on the simple display of images, would follow that first absence of image, through to contemporary computing in our age of phosphor-free flat panel displays.
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 Some screensavers create very abstract patterns that have no simple interpretation, even as something like an abstract maze. Others, like the early Windows "Starfield" and the Windows 95 "Maze" (which shows movement through a 3D, RPG-like maze) suggest that the computer is a vehicle for exploration. These screensavers live alongside those that play with our perceptions of life, inviting us to think about how technologies relate to creatures like fish and birds. But in addition to all of these, there are screensavers that accumulate structures in a way that suggests industrious, technical production. The Windows 95 "Pipes" screensaver is a fairly famous example. It assembles 3D tangles of multi-colored pipes which become impossibly dense and intricate. This screensaver does more plumbing work in a few minutes than Nintendo's Mario has done in his lifetime. The busy visuals show that the computer is hard at work, even though its user is not interacting with it. While the image is pleasing to look at, it also projects a more serious image than the frivolous flying toaster or simulated fishtank.
-While 10 PRINT ... is extremely abstract, its generation process is more easily interpreted as one of furious construction rather than as, for instance, the amusing simulation of life, or even as something that is completely abstract and disconnected from culture. 10 PRINT ... suggests that the computer is a maker of structures, is tireless and produces these at a regular rate, and can create patterns that are both pleasing to view and perplexing to walk through. While the Windows 95 "Maze" screensaver provides the viewpoint of Theseus (or perhaps the Minotaur), 10 PRINT ... shows us the maze as seen by Daedalus: from the mind's eye of the architect, we share the imagination of a structure continually in the process of being built.
+While 10 PRINT is extremely abstract, its generation process is more easily interpreted as one of furious construction rather than as, for instance, the amusing simulation of life, or even as something that is completely abstract and disconnected from culture. 10 PRINT suggests that the computer is a maker of structures, is tireless and produces these at a regular rate, and can create patterns that are both pleasing to view and perplexing to walk through. While the Windows 95 "Maze" screensaver provides the viewpoint of Theseus (or perhaps the Minotaur), 10 PRINT shows us the maze as seen by Daedalus: from the mind's eye of the architect, we share the imagination of a structure continually in the process of being built.
 == Bibliography ==