Mining as a screensaver Strongly inspired by the SETI program, I was considering putting together a mining client that mines when a computer switches to screensaver. I know this would cost some PGU when the computer takes a nap, and would kind of defeat the purpose.

But would such a product be of interest to the bitcoin crowd ?

Would people be interested in a piece of software like this ?

I understand that serious miners would not be interested in this, but maybe, just maybe, the whole BitCoin thing would be easier to explain to some, if there was a piece of software that resembled the SETI program (which many people know or remember.)
In the interests of keeping people's power bills low, I'd recommend not bothering to write anything that uses CPU mining as the bitcoins earned will not even come close to recovering the cost of the electricity.

If you can get it working with ATI graphics cards though, it would be quite a neat idea. It would also be a good way for charitable organisations to earn donations without people needing to put in their credit card details. Eg a donate-to-wikileaks screensaver.

However, there are also ethical issues to consider - not only does mining have a substantial electricity cost (where I live, it can be as high as $45 a month with my 5850 card), it also has a substantial effect of shortening the life of the hardware doing the processing. The average Joe Bloggs should really be made aware of those issues before they install &amp; run mining software.