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Featured era: 1990
Flying Toasters
“A flock of appliances crossing the idle screen.”
- Featured era
- 1990
- Peak era
- 1990s–early 2000s
- Company
- Berkeley Systems
- Category
- Nostalgic Features
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What Was It?
Flying Toasters was the surreal screensaver from After Dark: winged toasters and slices of toast drifted across the screen. It gave the idle computer a joke of its own, turning a utility into something people would stop working to watch.
The joke depended on the computer being idle. Instead of asking the user to complete a task, the screen supplied an absurd little scene with its own movement and rhythm. The longer someone watched, the more an ordinary desk could feel like a place where something unexpected might happen.
Flying Toasters is remembered as a characterful part of After Dark rather than merely an example of screen-saving software. Its winged appliances gave a practical category of utility a recognizable personality and made doing nothing on the computer entertaining.
Things You Probably Forgot
- Flying Toasters was one module in the larger After Dark collection.
- Its appeal came from an ordinary household object behaving like an airborne creature.
The Story
- 1989 After Dark arrives for Macintosh, helping turn screensavers into a collection of visual personalities.
- 1990 After Dark 2.0 features Flying Toasters. Winged kitchen appliances turn the idle screen into a miniature comic scene.
Its Legacy
The scene outlived its original practical purpose as a screensaver. Flying Toasters remains a visual shorthand for the playful side of early personal computers.
Memories
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