History of Screensavers

By Cristopher Fowers

Screensaver —it’s one those computer-related words that simply didn’t exist just 15 years ago. But today, the bulk of kindergarten kids could probably give you a lengthy explanation of what exactly a screensaver is, or at least what one looks like. They might tell you that screensavers are pretty pictures, cartoon characters, or just cool designs you put on your computer to give it something to do when it’s on, but not being used.

The first screensaver was developed in 1989; its developers would tell you it was more than just a cool design.

The Beginning of Screensavers

Before 1990 televisions, computer monitors, and other electronics had screens that were prone to “burn-in.” Burn-in occurs when a stationary image (i.e. the windows toolbar, video game backgrounds, etc.) appears on the screen for an extended period of time. This area of the screen would soon appear grayed out and quickly become permanently damaged. In order to prevent burn-in, a program was developed to change the image after a given period of time and the screensaver was born.

Early screensavers simply made the entire screen black. This changed in 1989. Bill Stewart and Ian MacDonald at Software Dynamics developed a 16-bit screensaver which they dubbed “Magic Screensaver.” The Magic Screensaver started the whole screensaver genre by going worldwide solely by word of mouth and a primitive 1990 Internet. The Magic Screensaver was then licensed by hundreds of thousands of users, including major corporations such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Exxon. Software Dynamics soon came out with other screensavers including Magic 2000 and After Dark. The original 16-bit Magic Screensaver is still available for download through Dynamic Karma.

Today’s Screensavers Wear Many Hats

Although today’s computer monitors are built with technology preventing the possibility of burn-in, we still use screensavers for a variety of reasons, here are just a few:

• Entertainment– Most of us use screen savers for entertainment purposes—watching a penguin do the boot scoot’n boogie across the screen can be a great diversion for a few minutes.
• Security– You can set up a screensaver with password protection. If the screensaver is active and the computer detects the keyboard or mouse is being moved, a box pops up requiring a password. This enables you to leave your computer and feel comfortable that that nobody will see any sensitive information.
• Uniform Look– Some companies require employees to use a particular screensaver. This creates a uniform environment and ensures no inappropriate screensavers are used.
• Information– Many screensavers provide either static or real-time information. For example, you may have a screensaver which cycles through a series of facts about Montana. Other screensavers may pull stock information from a website and then display it on the monitor.
• Distributed Computing– This form of screensaver takes advantage of your computer’s inactivity to process data from another source. An example of this comes from SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). This screensaver displays a graph of the radio spectrum and processes radio signal information received from SETI servers. The screensaver sends back results on the data processed. By using so many computers, SETI greatly reduces the amount of time it takes to process all the signals received from its radio telescope.*

Advertising – The Future of Screensavers

Like many other forms of media, the future of screensaving lies in the advertising industry. Many companies including Oxigen, Anark Digital Services, and Think 360 have developed and are developing screensavers to reach consumers. Companies will soon be able to reach a target audience and even track whether or not consumers react to the advertisement through screensavers. After the message is delivered to the users, the screensaver can report on every customer's action, which will allow a company to refine future marketing messages. To put this in perspective take the example given by Think360, a marketing firm located in Austin, Texas.

United Blood Services, a Think360 clint, set up a screensaver ad. Over a 10-month period the total display time of their screensaver was 41 years, six months and 21 days. This amount of radio or TV advertising would cost a fortune but through screensavers it can be done reasonably.

The first audience to experience screensaver ads are likely to be college students. The screensaver ads will be widly used in university libraries, labs and student dormitories. If you’re a computer user, screensaver ads are in your future.

Each day 4.8 million people download screensavers for their computer monitors. Most of these downloads come from screensaver websites. Type “screensaver” in a search engine and it will pull up hundreds of different sites. Remember not all of these screensaver websites are created equally.

Many screensaver sites will advertise free screensavers, but then attach adware, spyware and viruses to the download. Though these attachments can be very harmful for your computer—if anti-vrus and anti adware/spyware software are used, you can feel at ease when downloading screensavers from most services.

References

http://www.digitalproducer.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=24403: Anark Brings Cinematic Computing to Screens in Support of Athlon 64 Processor. March, 2005.

Dynamic Karma Inc., http://www.dynamickarma.com/content/magic_features.htm: The History of Windows Screensavers. 1999-2004.

May, Kevin, http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/articles/folder2005/07/julydaily/oxigen-screensaverads: Oxigen Unveils Screensaver Ads. 2005.

Mello, John, P Jr., http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/FJnO283s5ti7wl/Marketer-Captures-Eyeballs-with-Screensavers.xhtml: Marketer Captures Eyballs with Screensavers. June, 2005.

* Tyson, Jeff, Howstuffworks.com: How Screensavers Work. 2005.

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