A Fishy Display
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Delving into my memory by travelling back more years that I care to admit, I can recall when it was almost de rigueur to have a screen saver as part of your normal system set-up. These animated displays of graphics were developed with the purpose of protecting monitors from the curse of image burn-in. Monitor technology, at that stage, was such that leaving a screen displaying static content for any length of time could result in a ghost representation appearing on your monitor screen. Nowadays that is no longer a problem but still screen savers survive.
Modern day equivalents now serve the function of concealing possible sensitive data if you are away from your desk or providing users with a visual treat for their amusement. Some can even act as a standalone application that can be fired up at a momentÂ’s notice to help ease tension or provide a diversion for the user. Having an on-screen aquarium with your personal selection of fish is one such option and this can be obtained with Allume Systems Aquazone Desktop Garden product. This virtual aquarium software can be run in standalone mode at your discretion or be designated as your chosen screen saver.
Setting up your aquarium consists of two stages. First you need to select from a wide range of aquarium types or perhaps that should be locations as you are not limited to the more traditional tank appearance. This program gives you the option of having your fish swim in the sky with drifting clouds; out in space with stars and planets for company; as a desktop garden; or using a format that has been designed for a specific type of fish.
The next stage is to populate your aquarium with your choice of fish. A scrollable list will list those available and you simple select the ones you want and set the number of fish. Other options let you adjust sound and lighting conditions; assigned the amount of processor time to be used; and even add an image as a backdrop without worrying that it would upset the fish.
The graphics are excellent with clearly defined fish, bright, vibrant colour and extremely realistic fish movement. Having said that I must point out that I could perceive no reaction from the fish when food was adding to the aquarium not when the glass was tapped using the left mouse button. Maybe the resident fish were too polite to notice such distractions. You can scroll around the aquarium or target a specific fish to be the subject of a close-up fish-cam view.
If you become bored with the current set-up of your aquarium then there is no need to fret about disposing of the aquatic creatures. You just create another selection from the list or purchase one of the add-on packs that are available. There is even one pack that contains fun objects such as a flying saucer, deep sea diver and Yellow Hobbit (really an old-fashioned submarine).
With no dead fish, dirty water or any worries about keeping the water temperature at the correct level, this is an aquarium that brings all the benefits of relaxed watching without any of the annoying tasks that can put people off from having a pet. All you will need is a Pentium with 64MB RAM and 20MB of hard disk space. DirectX 8.1 or later will be required and the program runs on Windows 98SE or later. Aquazone Desktop Garden costs $19.99 while add-on packs are priced at $9.99 each.
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