n. Software designed to enhance focus by removing or blocking a computer's visual distractions.
2013
Their inventions so far include wearable sensors that deliver rewards ("calm points") for breathing well while you work, developed by Stanford University's calming technology laboratory;…and scores of pieces of "zenware" designed to block distractions, with names such as Isolator and StayFocusd and Shroud and Turn Off The Lights.
2011
Pang touches on the idea of "zenware," software that is designed to help us focus. In particular, he mentions WriteRoom and OmmWriter, full-screen text editors meant to help people write without getting distracted.
2008 (earliest)
There's an emerging market for programs that introduce much-needed traffic calming to our massively expanding desktops. The name for this genre of clutter-management software: zenware.
The philosophy behind zenware is to force the desktop back to its Platonic essence.
The philosophy behind zenware is to force the desktop back to its Platonic essence.
El-Fish is realistic enough for an American columnist, Jim Louderback, to find the program soothing. In PC Week, he claimed the program "actually reduces stress. In fact, it is so calming it approaches a Zen-like experience". He called it "the first of a new category of product: Zen-ware".