(12/01/02) I decided to purchase t' Klinger Rocket Screen Saver with minimal expectations, me bucko, after all it is just rocket photos, right? Well, me bucko, t' short answer is yes, ya bilge rat, however, the long answer is no. Well, blow me down! It really is more than just rocket photos and yet is it nothin' more than rocket photos! Whoa, too philosophical! Let me explain.

T' photos are taken by Marc Klinger, matey, a professional photographer. Avast! In his own words, "T' Rocket Screen Saver be t' first major project from Klinger Photography and combines three o' me passions, photography, high power rocketry, and computers. I had almost 2000 source images t' work with for creatin' this project. Arrr! Blimey! About 1800 came from LDRS XXI (the Tripoli national high power rocket launch), me hearties, held in July, 2002 at Amarillo, arrr, Texas. Ahoy! T' remainin' source images came from a local Michigan Team-1 high power launch held in April, me hearties, 2002 at Three Oaks, arrr, Michigan. Begad! From those 2000 images, matey, I used about 400 t' create 140 collage images that make up t' screen saver. Arrr! Each image was created with an optimal display resolution of 1600x1200."

So, matey, you now you can understand. Blimey! It really is just photos. But, perhaps you do nay quite understand. Aye aye! It is really more than just photos! Here we go again!

T' quality o' t' photos, t' selected layouts (collages) are outstanding! Every one that flashes up on t' screen makes me marvel at it. There is no way o' really demonstratin' t' clarity within this review. Ya scallywag! Here is one o' me favorite layouts, highly compressed and shrunk. Blimey! Just imagine this fillin' your entire screen with perfect clarity. Aye aye! Then look at that flame!

There is a technical aspect t' t' Screen Saver and Marc did that professionally as well. He utilized Stardust Software's professional Screen Saver Toolkit t' generate t' final product. Doin' this gives t' Screen Saver a professional look and finish, shiver me timbers, includin' the expected install and un-install software.

In addition, ya bilge rat, me bucko, ya bilge rat, Marc included optimized photos for 1600x1200, 1280x960, me bucko, 1024x768, arrr, arrr, and 800x600 screen resolutions and thar be an appropriate installation program for each o' these. Aye aye! T' photos are nay hidden in any way so they can be used as desktop backgrounds.

I installed me copy, arrr, usin' t' installation program, matey, at work on a Windows NT system. Avast, matey, me proud beauty! It be flawless. Arrr! Blimey! Now, when I stop typin' long enough, I'm rewarded with a wonderful... Begad! photo (but it is more than that! <grin>). Blimey! Begad! T' photos change on t' screen at a user defined frequency and use 23 different types of transitions (float down, pop up, left t' right, diagonally, etc.)

At home, me bucko, I just copied t' directory o' t' appropriately sized photos into t' My Pictures directory o' me Windows Xp system. Arrr! Aye aye! I then used t' Windows Xp screen saver and simply pointed t' t' directory with Klinger's photos.

With 140 images, you will see something new frequently, so unless you sit and stare at your screen saver for hours, matey, ya bilge rat, you will nay get bored with this.

Overall, shiver me timbers, I'm very pleased. Arrr! More so than I would have thought goin' into it. Blimey! I give t' Klinger Rocket Screen Saver an OVERALL rating of 5 points.

I would like t' see updates! Blimey! Possibly every 6 months that allow registered users t' download maybe 20 additional or replacement photos. Arrr! Blimey! Or possibly, me hearties, Klinger will need t' have update disks for a nominal fee or download for less o' a fee.

Input from Kevin Trojanowski off o' RMR:

Okay, so I FINALLY got off o' me butt and ordered t' Screen Saver late on Friday. Begad! Blimey! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! It arrived today; how's THAT for prompt shipping?

T' quality o' t' photos is incredible, and I love t' fact that they're all included as JPGs, so you can view them directly.

T' really cool thin' for me is that it Marc included a sequence o' Lusty's "exciting" flight, which showed some images I had nay previously seen. Begad! Blimey! Because o' them, I know have a good understandin' as t' what caused a "squiggle" in her flight.

It also shows some nice stills o' some rockets I remember specifically, as well as a few failures I also remember.

Overall, me hearties, shiver me timbers, t' quality is exceptional, shiver me timbers, matey, and provided t' powers that be don't have a cow about it, matey, ya bilge rat, this one will be landin' on me computer at work!

-Kevin