What IS iScreensaver?

iScreensaver is software that lets you quickly and easily create a customized screensaver for distribution. Instantly turn any QuickTime-compatible movie file into a screensaver in a few minutes, and build an ''installer'' which you can distribute electronically on the web, or by CD-ROM, floppy disk, or email.

iScreensaver is FREE for demonstration use. The fully licensed personal use version costs only $20! Licenses for distribution start at just $60. Take the Guided Tour of features! How does iScreensaver compare with the competition?

System Requirements for Macintosh:

• MacOS 8.6 or MacOS 9 (recommended)
• PowerPC class computer (68K is not supported)
• 32MB of System RAM (64MB or more recommended)
• 4MB free disk space
• Quicktime 4
• A Shockwave Flash, QuickTime movie file, or a movie editor.
  We strongly recommend Macromedia Flash because it creates small files that scale to different monitor sizes very well.

System Requirements for Windows:

• Coming soon....
  Click Here to join our mailing list

A Short History of the Screensaver

Back in the early days of personal computing, when screens came in a multitude of colors like black with green text, or black with amber text, there was a situation known as ''phosphor burn'' where standard information constantly on-screen became ''burned'' into the inside glass. Things like the 'C:>' prompt, Date and Time, or 'APPLESOFT Basic:>' were permanently ghosted-in on the screen. (You can still find this burn on many old ATM monitors, eternally asking someone to insert their bankcard.)

Well, there wasn't much done about this until 1984 when the Macintosh came along. Why? Either because its new graphical user interface made it possible, or its high pricetag made it necessary - in either case ''Pyro!'' was born. It was a simple fireworks screensaver originally using ASCII symbols and simple colors. It was very popular - the beauty of shareware software proved that you build something fantastic, people will copy it endlessly. Soon, an updated version of Pyro added curved launching sequences, extra colors, less ASCII art, and more exciting explosions.

Around 1987, a band of toasters came swooping in together as a novelty module for a small collection of screensavers. After Dark and its Flying Toasters was one of the first pieces of software to strike such a sensation that even people without computers could recognize them - and, in most cases, it was the first software purchased after they bought their first computer. The fly in the ointment was, however, that by this time in the late 1980's, the manufacturing of monitors had improved and phosphor burn became almost non-existent.

Luckily for those in the screensaver business, that didn't matter.

[...stay tuned - the 90's - soon to come...]

Copyright ©1995-2001 Xochi Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.