Cryptic Symbols on my Screensaver

OK, if you have the 3D Maze screensaver, you’ll notice that strange geometric shapes hover in space, and when the “rat” touches them the screen shifts. That I understand. But also hovering in space, in bright, transparent letters, is the phrase “OpenGL.” Passing through it doesn’t seem to affect (effect?) any response.

Does “OpenGL” mean something in computer-ese?


“Hey Torquemada, whaddya say?
I’ve been away at the auto-da-fé.
Auto-da-fé? What’s an auto-da-fé?
It’s what you oughtta not do, but you do anyway!”

OpenGL is a graphics programming language developed by SGI and adopted by Microsoft for inclusion in Windows.

The GL stands for “Graphics Language”


“To do her justice, I can’t see that she could have found anything nastier to say if she’d thought it out with both hands for a fortnight.”
Dorothy L. Sayers
Busman’s Honeymoon