[1] : WordNet (r) 2.0

screen saver
     n : computer science a moving design that appears on a
         computer screen when there has been no input for a
         specified period of time; "screen savers prevent the
         damage that occurs when the same areas of light and dark
         are displayed too long"

[2] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

screen saver
     
         a program which displays either a completely black
        image or a constantly changing image on a computer monitor to
        prevent a stationary image from "burning" into the phosphor of
        the screen.  screen savers usually start automatically after
        the computer has had no user input for a preset time.  some
        screen savers come with many different modules, each giving a
        different effect.
     
        approximately pre-1990, many cathode ray tubes, in tvs,
        computer monitors or elsewhere, were prone to "burn-in";
        that is, if the same pattern e.g., the wordperfect status
        line; the pong score readout; or a tv channel-number
        display were shown at the same position on the screen for
        very long periods of time, the phosphor on the screen would
        "fatigue" and that part of the screen would seem greyed out,
        even when the crt was off.
     
        eventually crts were developed which were resistant to burn-in
        and which sometimes went into sleep mode after a period of
        inactivity; but in the meantime, solutions were developed:
        home video game systems of the era e.g., atari 2600s would,
        when not being played, change the screen every few seconds, to
        avoid burn-in; and computer screen saver programs were
        developed.
     
        the first screen savers were simple screen blankers - they
        just set the screen to all black, but, in the best case of
        creeping featurism ever recorded, these tiny often under 1k
        long programs grew without regard to efficiency or even basic
        usefulness.  at first, small, innocuous display hacks
        generally on an almost-black screen were added.  later, more
        complex effects appeared, including animations often with
        sound effects of arbitrary length and complexity.
     
        along the way, avoiding repetitive patterns and burn-in was
        completely forgotten and "screen savers" such as pointcast
        were developed, which make no claim to save your monitor, but
        are simply bloated browsers for push media which
        self-start after the machine has been inactive for a few
        minutes.
     
        1997-11-23
     
     
see also:
cathode ray tubes monitors wordperfect pong sleep creeping featurism 
display hacks animations pointcast browsers push media 

Screen Saver >> S Words
Screen Saver, definition of term: Screen Saver
screen+saver_pag1.html

Screen >> S Words
Screen, definition of term: Screen
screen_pag1.html

Saver >> S Words
Saver, definition of term: Saver
saver_pag1.html

Screen Pass >> S Words
Screen Pass, definition of term: Screen Pass
screen+pass_pag1.html

Screen Door >> S Words
Screen Door, definition of term: Screen Door
screen+door_pag1.html

Touch Screen >> T Words
Touch Screen, definition of term: Touch Screen
touch+screen_pag1.html

Silver Screen >> S Words
Silver Screen, definition of term: Silver Screen
silver+screen_pag1.html

Fire Screen >> F Words
Fire Screen, definition of term: Fire Screen
fire+screen_pag1.html

Altar Screen >> A Words
Altar Screen, definition of term: Altar Screen
altar+screen_pag1.html