The DVD screensaver was perfect: unobtrusive and did what it was supposed to do: prevent your CRT screen from burning-in an image. On top of that, it gave you something to look forward to when it would perfectly hit a corner (which some people thought was a myth; sadly the GIF version does not).
Now, any screen in your home is fair game for intrusive ads. Why make something simple, elegant, functional, and unobtrusive when that otherwise idle (or even in-use!) screen can be crammed with ads.
Now you got me thinking about leaving the computer dialed up overnight so I could download custom screen savers.
I felt that. It took me 3 overnight sessions to download the “Throw a pie at Bill Gates” screensaver over 14.4 dial-up back in the day.
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