The History of Windows Screensavers

 Windows Screensaving started with early screensavers such as the Magic Screensaver, developed in 1989 for Windows 2.0.  It was created years before Microsoft built screensaving into Windows and the world was deluged with thousands of screensavers, screensaver web sites and screensaver CDs.

Magic ScreenSaver -> After Dark
The Magic Screensaver was an incredibly successful product for Windows 2.0 and Windows 3.0 that spawned the even more successful successor After Dark for Windows. Magic and After Dark created the market for screensavers more than 10 years ago. Magic 2000 is a 32-bit update to the original Magic ScreenSaver. It has been tested on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows Me. 

Magic 2000
Magic 2000 is provided FREE to end-users who might be curious about the screensaver that started it all. Many users claim that Magic calms their nerves or syncs to music. We make no such claims. It's a very simple screensaver and we kept it that way to preserve the authenticity of the original, but even we find its unpredictable, rhythmic quality is almost hypnotic.
See the Download page to download and install Magic 2000.


--> History of Magic and After Dark 
The original 16-bit Magic Screensaver was one of the first Windows screensavers ever made. It was developed by Bill Stewart and Ian MacDonald at Software Dynamics, Dynamic Karma’s parent company. It was not only a screensaver display, it was a complete screensaver system that detected times of inactivity and provided simple, effective password security. At the time, Windows did not include screensavers or a means to run them during inactivity. Magic was a very popular Windows utility that was licensed by hundreds of thousands of users including major corporations such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Exxon.

Magic Screensaver was updated for Windows 3.0 and all known bugs were fixed in 1990, but it has not been changed since then. Magic was not updated for a couple of reasons. First, frequent contact with our customers allowed us to quickly refine all aspects of the product for optimal operation and usability. Magic worked so well that there were no errors or bugs to fix any more. Secondly, we were hard at work outdoing ourselves with the more ambitious sequel to Magic which became After Dark for Windows. While Magic achieved worldwide appeal solely from word of mouth and the small, primitive 1990 version of the internet, After Dark was advertised widely and sold in stores. 

After Dark had many different stylish and funny animations to choose from and was an open architecture screensaver system that allowed anyone to write compatible screensaver animation modules. We expected After Dark to be a huge success, but it did even better than anyone expected. Two months after initial 1991 release, After Dark was the #1 selling software application in the world and occasionally surpassed sales of Windows itself in 1991 and 1992. It boosted the profile of Windows 3.0 as a platform for “cool” applications and became something of a pop icon featured in movies, cartoons and TV shows. 

Built to Last
Interestingly, many users of Magic ignored our prompting and did not switch to After Dark. Magic continued to grow in popularity and be preferred by many users for years after the release of After Dark, even though no changes were made to Magic. Even though the original 16-bit version of Magic hooked deeply into the Windows system and was created for Windows 2.0, it actually works fine on all the newest Windows versions such as Windows 95, Win 98, NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows Me. Of course, we don’t recommend using the 16-bit Magic on those operating systems since the newer 32-bit Magic 2000 works better. We created the 32-bit Magic 2000 version because people kept asking us to remove the unneeded screensaver engine so Magic can fit into the standard Windows screensaver list. We added no features because there was nothing to improve and we wanted to retain authenticity with the original Magic.

The greatest vindication for our products and ideas has been the evolution of screensaving from an unknown niche to a ubiquitous genre. Before we made Magic and After Dark, Windows did not include screensavers or a means to run them during inactivity. Because of our ground-breaking work, Microsoft added screensaving support to the Windows system and developers around the world created tens of thousands of unique screensavers. 

What Happened to After Dark
After Dark for Windows was the sequel to Magic. It was difficult to convince publishers of it’s potential and not much was expected by the Macintosh-based publisher who agreed to sign on. They said "If PC users were cool enough to appreciate screen savers, they would have bought a Mac." They didn't believe the product or the Windows platform had a big future. However, After Dark quickly became a worldwide sensation used by tens of millions of users. Version 2.0 of After Dark solidified its position and drove sales even higher, continuing our record of success. This created an enormous revenue stream for the publisher (Berkeley Systems) which made most of the profit from After Dark and depended on it as their money-maker. 

Unfortunately, the publisher decided to bite the hand that feeds them, using legal maneuvering to cut us out of the product. After Dark 3.0 was created by them without our input or approval. Predictably, After Dark 3.0 was a failure. It did not continue our high technical and artistic standards and did poorly in the marketplace. The publisher was bought out by Sierra Online which was bought out by other companies who probably don’t know we created the original product. Unfortunately, After Dark's publisher has given up on the product, failing to support Windows NT, 2000, Mac OS9 & OS X. We are proud of our role creating the successful versions of After Dark and founding the screensaver genre. 

Screensaver Download Center
Visit our Screensaver Download page to download Magic 2000 (the updated 32-bit version of the first Windows screensaver), our new Dynamic Karma screensaver, or the original 16-bit Magic ScreenSaver that started the whole screensaver genre. Our Dynamic Karma screensaver features our distinctive Dynamic Karma animated logo, the sounds of a babbling brook and occasional fireworks. Click here to go to the screensaver download page.

Visit our Power Drawers pages to see and try our latest Windows utility products.