Deathbed Software

by Sylvia Thodhiss

Deathbed software? That's software, usually a game, that you spend so much time with that on your deathbed you'll probably have a pang of regret that you wasted so much of your life doing that instead of something more worthwhile.

We've all gotten hooked on this game or that, often not because it's an especially good game or even a well-constructed chunk of code but just to kill time. True deathbed software is

a great concept.
beautifully designed.
elegantly coded.
extremely seductive.
a delight to use.

How rarely ALL those elements come together. Quite a few games manage three or even four, but how few have incorporated all five. Think the original Tetris. Or going back a few generations: Space Invaders. Or even, allowing for technological limitations of the time, Pong.

Inadvertently we've come across another one. Extremely inadvertently, because all that the software in question does is allow you to do jigsaw puzzles.

Yes, we agree. Unless you're a jigsaw fanatic, the idea seems nonsensical and "Sheesh!" the only appropriate response.

Prepare to be seduced.

What happened was this: A good friend was having a birthday. I knew she loved jigsaw puzzles. Online recreation for her was to go to one of the online jigsaw sites and solve a puzzle or two. Having watched her do this, I was struck by how limited in size and options those sites are.

So, I thought, why not try to find a stand-alone jigsaw program for her.

This, my friends, was a mistake which, as I say, I'll probably rue on my deathbed. I've NEVER enjoyed jigsaw puzzling and have never really comprehended why anyone would do it in preference to, say, watching grass grow.

My games research led me to Tibo Software whose "Jigs@w" program got very high ratings from everybody who reviewed it.

$9.95 for the basic program. Only 1.3 megabytes to download. What did I have to lose? Only many many hours of my life, that's all.

I downloaded, credit-carded the payment, received the registration code by email.

Of course I felt I should give the program a test-drive before I present it as a gift.

Before I start on the wonders of this game, I have to assure you: This is a completely unsolicited testimonial. Tibo Software has no connection with Magellan's Log, and we have none with them. It's just that their unassuming little program has brought things around here pretty much to a halt, and, like new addicts, we want to get you hooked too (he-he).

Why Jigs@w? Because it does everything, EVERYTHING, you could want a computer jigsaw program to do:

You can import any image to use as a puzzle (gif, jpg, bmp).
You then can determine the complexity of the puzzle by setting the
    number of pieces, the kinds of pieces (standard curving cuts, straight
    cuts, "chaotic" cuts--you can even set the level of "chaos" in the cuts).
Before going to the solving screen, you can either have the pieces
    presented to you in their correct orientation or randomly rotated.
On the solving screen, you can rotate pieces; you can easily check
    for hidden pieces, you can re-shuffle.
You can email a puzzle you make, and the email takes the program
    with it so that a friend can then solve it.
Like all great products, Jigs@w gives you more than you expect for
    your money. After you finish the puzzle, you can "hang" it with your
    other complete puzzles in a virtual reality gallery

The only caveat: the bigger your monitor screen the better. Still, I've been using an old 13-inch monitor and even at that size, I'm hooked, as you can see from the famous Magritte painting at the top.

For more information: www.tibosoftware.com

END

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