Why did they use 3D pipes and mazes as screensavers?

In the past, Windows screensavers included '3D pipes' where pipes grow and grow, '3D flying objects' where objects fly around the screen, '3D mazes' where maze spaces expand, and '3D text' where a specified character string moves while rotating. Raymond Chen, who has experience as a programmer in Microsoft's Windows division, reveals the truth about why such screensavers were installed.

The origin story of the Windows 3D Pipes screen saver - The Old New Thing

The screensaver was created by the OpenGL team, which includes a friend of Chen's.

In 1994, Windows NT 3.5 was released with support for OpenGL, but even just before the release, it still had no features that would appeal to users that it was compatible with OpenGL.

Chen's friend focused on screensavers to promote the fact that his product was compatible with OpenGL without affecting the safety of the product. In an era when automatic software updates via the Internet were not yet common, it would have been a big problem if a product had been provided with problematic software, but with screensavers, it was easy to just say, 'Do not use the screensaver in question.'

The OpenGL team decided to hold a contest to select a work for implementation in Windows, and the members created various works of their own accord.

Meanwhile, voting for the contest was to be done by the entire Windows NT development team, and an email was sent out informing them of this. A member of the marketing team suggested that they 'add all of the screensavers, not just the best one,' and as a result, all of the screensavers that used OpenGL, including '3D Pipes,' were selected.

By the way, below is a screenshot of the '3D Pipe' screensaver in action.

3D pipes screensaver (1080p) - YouTube


This is what it looks like when you run '3D Flying Objects' on Windows 95.

Windows 95 Screensaver - 3D Flying Objects (4K) - YouTube


◆ Forum is currently open
A forum related to this article has been set up on the official GIGAZINE Discord server . Anyone can post freely, so please feel free to comment! If you do not have a Discord account, please refer to the account creation procedure explanation article to create an account!

• Discord | 'Tell me your favorite screensaver!' | GIGAZINE
https://discord.com/channels/1037961069903216680/1252548524910837851