XENOPHILE  Not working in Leopard for me, just crashes System Preferences.

Too bad this is abandoned, it's one of the all-time best screen savers. I haven't seen anything similar, either.  
(Version 2.6.1)

KZX72  Looks like they pulled a Resexcellence. A shame, this was one of the best screensavers out there.  
(Version 2.6.1)

SWORDFISH  Here is what the developer(s) have to say about an intel version of Fluid:

"We have been receiving quite a few emails wondering if there are plans to release a Universal binary for Fluid. The answer is YES, and we are already hard a work on it. We are also using this time to run down some old bugs and throw in a few new features. We do not have a release date yet, but rest assured that Fluid3 will be released as soon as we feel confident that it is ready."

w00t!!!  
(Version 2.6.1)

ACE11413  I just bought a new MacBook--so my favorite screesaver won't work ok. Please oh please make the universal binary available soon!  
(Version 2.6.1)

ARVID  i love it! the default screensaver is brilliant. Best i have ever seen i think. One glitch - when the screenshot that the fluid distorts is re-taken (on the 5min refresh) the top like 50px are often missing - black. Not a big issue at all, just saying. I am on a powerbook 1.25GHz, 1280x854 display, OS 10.3.9. Many thanks to the developers of this excellent effect that makes some of my PC buddies say whoa..... :)  
(Version 2.6.1)

ANONYMOUS  Unarchives just fine on Tiger, assuming you have Stuffit 9. The developer needs to do nothing, you however need to upgrade your free Stuffit Expander  
(Version 2.6.1)

ANONYMOUS  Does not unarchive on Tiger. The developer needs to use something other than Stuffit, like zip, bzip2, or even just a proper compressed disk image.  
(Version 2.6.1)

EVOLUTIONSBLUEPRINT  All i can say is , WOW... this is beautiful. thank you developers ever so much.... now i have one request... i know im lucky just to get this screen saver, but i think everyone is with in this request.... would you plz work on an itunes visualizer, it would make the world a better place to live!  
(Version 2.6.1)

ANONYMOUS  This is at least as good if not significantly better than Marine Aquarime. I have had a good time just playing around with the controls.

It is one of the few screen savers that is consistently fun to watch for extended lengths of time. Kind of like curly up in front of a fireplace with a glass of good wine!!!  
(Version 2.6.1)

BEAU DE GRAAF  Outstanding. Best MacOS X Screensaver for your new Mac. I got it running on my New AlBook G4 1.33 and it's simply amazing. If you have a new fast mac, get this screensaver.  
(Version 2.6.1)

ANONYMOUS  unfreakinbelievable !

Wow...I got this as a torrent file seed so I originally thought it was not free. Now that I found out it's free I'm even more blown away.

So weet on my new G5. MAJOR cudos to the developer. I am rarely amazed by macupdate or versiontracker files.

Makes me wonder why something like this wasn't developed by companies that charge for their lame screensavers. i.e. the fireplace and washing machine screensaver company.

Bravo!  
(Version 2.6.1)

ALEX  I cannot explain it, but this will not work on my rev. A Titanium PB. 500 MHz and 512 MB of RAM. Nothing running in the background. Not even connected to a network. All other screensavers work fine. When Fluid starts, the screen goes dark and eventually the desktop appears. (still in the screensaver mode) There is no animation or movement. The computer is working HARD tho, since the bottom gets up to its maximum temperature pretty fast.

Wish I knew how to fix this because I used Fluid on this same machine about a year ago and it was amazing.  
(Version 2.6.1)

SCOTT KLEINBERG  There's one thing that really makes fluid stand out from other screensavers and that's its ability to work without overtaxing my system. For all of us that have high powered machines in excess of 1 ghz, this isn't always a problem. I, on the other hand, use my trustworthy tibook G4 400. Almost every other program of a similar nature taxes my system to the point that it's unusable. Fluid literally reminds me of a lava lamp. It comes complete with that warm feeling. And, better (or worse, depending on your situation) there's so many types of settings that you can literally spend all day seeing which you like best. And then, after you do that, you of course want to go back and find a new combination. It's addicting in a good way.

And now, the latest version lets you incorporate video into the fluid. I used my isight to see myself and my surroundings in the fluid! How cool is that???

Also worth noting are the number of themes that come with Fluid. Some programs obviously skimp when it comes to free versions only to unleash the power and fury when you pay the shareware fee. For some reason, the developer of Fluid is happy when we're happy. In this day and age of software, that's comforting. I had an unpleasant exchange just yesterday with a software developer after I emailed him with an opinion about what he's doing. It's nice to know developers like concepthouse exist.

Here are my favorite themes from fluid and why. I wholeheartedly recommend that you take the time to explore them all .. but just in case you are looking to get started quick, here's my picks (in no particular order):

Fluid Classic: Reminds me of one of those electronic fireplaces from the 70s.

Nice Fire: Mezmerizing! The color is terrific! If only the visuals on iTunes looked this good.

Dynamic7: What I imagine living inside a bag of gumdrops to be like.

Radioactive Goop: The most fun you can have with radioactivity.

Studio 54: Wild, just like it was intended to be.

Copper: I think I like the metallic color and the way it works with the titanium of my powerbook. Odd because I tried this one on my iMac and it's not as appealing ... because of the color of the machine. Maybe that's just me.

TopoMap: This one just makes my eyes spin. It's not as colorful as the others, but its neutrality is really well done.

Aqua3D: You have to love anything aqua. If you like the mac, it's almost a requirement.

Ice: Could be my favorite. It's cool looking, which is obviously the point. Again, another fabulous color combo to go with the silver of the titanium. Actually, when I have this on with my powermate pulsing next to it and turn out the lights .. it's sharp!!

Hopefully this information helps you choose fluid as the last screensaver you'll ever need or want. It's considered donationware, which means you are asked to contribute to the development IF that's something you want to do. I can only think of a handful of software products that I think are worth donations, and fluid is one of them.  
(Version 2.6.1)

ANONYMOUS  Absolutely rocks.

Got it running on a Dual 1.8 G5 w/ a 17" Studio Display and it will silence the room.

Great job.

Only one question, it's v2.6.1 and I've never heard of it!?  
(Version 2.6.1)

RAIN  WARNING... do not install while listening to The Doors... May result in flashbacks.

Serioiusly cool.  
(Version 2.6.1)

TEENY  Congrats on the quick response to my plea...I'm currently downloading...THANKS!  
(Version 2.6.1)

MARK  I wish there were more options in the realm of resolution of FSAA so that it would look even more smooth, 3D, flowing, and ... well ... fluid. Over all an excellent screen saver I highly recommend it to everyone. Be sure and look at the presets because the default settings are bland and pretty uninteresting. I love Aqua 3D, and Copper. Keep up the good work (and setup a paypal donation site; but don't get cocky and make this manditory shareware/payware!)!  
(Version 2.6.1)

MAKELELE-UNDONE  The developer is to be congratulated for both his quick response to the Jaguar incompatibility on v2.6 (problem isolsated, solved and 2.6.1 released in mere hours!) and for the soft itself - awesome screensaver! (I wish Apple worked liked this, really).

And for making of this a free app., too, of course! I agree with those previous posters who have stated this is worth a donation (I can't tell if I'd have ever downloaded and tried a shareware screensaver - never a commercial one, for sure).

As noted by some previous posters, too, some effects are quite demaning, but it still runs fine on not so powerful machines if you just don't go for certain things.  
(Version 2.6.1)

PAUL  Freakin' awesome! Seriously, this is the best screensaver I have ever seen, Mac or Windows. It is rather processor intensive for some effects, but still, WOW!  
(Version 2.6.1)

BEZIERBOY  All problems fixed, as of 2.6.1 as developer states. All features now work fine for me in 10.2.8 and 10.3.2.

This thing is almost too good to be a screensaver, and free too. Even more tweaking options in the new version. Please consider making a small donation for it, I know I am.

A bit more testing before general release and a thorough check of proper download URLs would have helped here.  
(Version 2.6)

GUBDEB  :-(

I've followed the download link both here at MacUpdate and also downloaded the most recent dev release from your site...

Neither downloads allow access to Configure options (the preview screen freezes if Config is clicked for a while, but nothing else).

I note your comment regarding 2.6.1 - but where to get it and how to know which version I have (I presume version display is via Configure!). Both downloads made after reading your comment, so either links aren't updating fast enough... or the new version still has problems!

ibook 800 Mhz (G3/Dual USB) : OS 10.2.8 : 640 MB Ram  
(Version 2.6)

ANONYMOUS  This problem is fixed in 2.6.1, which is now available. Sorry. I used a call that is Panther-only and didn't recognize it at the time. We've had over 400 downloads of the beta and no bug reports...until we release, of course.  
(Version 2.6)

MAKELELE-UNDONE  Same problems here with non-accessible Options under 10.2.8. Guess something has to be fixed or will this only work under 10.3.+ from now on? I've reverted to a previous version until we hear about this.  
(Version 2.6)

BEZIERBOY  Note that I have the same problem as Teeny on a PowerMac G4/800 in OS X 10.2.8 Jaguar, but in 10.3.2 Panther on a Cube the Options control panel works. The options are very elaborate and use a nonstandard interface so perhaps that's the problem.

I'm not really cool on the 2.6 download being labelled "Fluid Dev Build", seems a bit too alpha-software-ish to me. The main site is inaccessible as it's probably totally overloaded, so I can't get more info as to whether there are different versions for 10.2 vs. 10.3.

P.S. This thing is a SERIOUS CPU hog and runs quite slowly on a G4/450 Cube with only a 16MB video card. Probably pretty cool on a G5 though...  
(Version 2.6)

TEENY  I love the screensaver....such quality! But for some reason i cannot access the options. When i try to configure, no window opens for the options. Any tip?  
(Version 2.6)

GUNNM JK  lol to the editor's comments

Yea I think the Fluid site is just waiting to be updated. They were waiting for localizations before releasing the program.  
(Version 2.6)

ARWENWITCH  The most flexible screensaver I've tried! One spends hours just playing around with all the options. And don't forget to download the goodies from their Web site!  
(Version 2.1)

DAN  Seriously the coolest screen saver I've ever seen. Doesn't run that well on my 400mHz PB, but on my friend's 800mHz iBook it's OUTSTANDING.  
(Version 2.1)

BILL  When double clicking "Fluid.dmg" I get a message in a Disk Copy Dialog Box that says:

Fluid.dmg failed to mount due to error 95 (no mountable file systems).

So what do I do now??

btimby@cox.net  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  "Well, just because you can't see the desktop while a screensaver is activated, that doesn't mean you can't leave some CPU intensive task running (ie, rip, burn, convert, export, etc.) while you go about your day. I know that sometimes, if I forget to disable my screensaver, it can critically damage data if it activates during a CPU intensive task. "

-Uh, actually, no-it cant. OS X is a multitasking environment, with each process running in it's own memory space. If a program crashes, only it crashes...nothing else. The worst it'll do is slow down your rendering, burning, whatever. Besides, any software company that would release a CPU intensive program that corrupts data because of a screensaver would be the embarrassment of the industry. I think all Fluid did was slow down your game of Wolfenstein so you got killed.   
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  'Who cares if its a CPU hog? What are you gonna do, work while the screen saver is running?'

Well, just because you can't see the desktop while a screensaver is activated, that doesn't mean you can't leave some CPU intensive task running (ie, rip, burn, convert, export, etc.) while you go about your day. I know that sometimes, if I forget to disable my screensaver, it can critically damage data if it activates during a CPU intensive task.  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  had to rename the file with a .sit extension because disc copy had trouble mounting the image  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  Great screen saver.

Who cares if its a CPU hog? What are you gonna do, work while the screen saver is running?

Great for making PC users jealous while you eat lunch.  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  This is a CPU hog if ever I met one but it's really one of the all time best ever made. This one ranks right at the top...  
(Version 2.1)