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I've been reading the forum tonight and read that Titia has the source code for Fractal Explorer and that the original authors are possibly open to somebody further developing the program. I haven't contacted her but I've been thinking some things through (it does happen occasionally ;-)). I've often thought Fractal Explorer is one of the best Fractal programs ever created but a few features could be hugely improved on. I know other people have expressed the same desire to see Fractal Explorer reworked into something even better.

I was thinking that with Kickstarter we could maybe fund some programmers to further develop it. The problem I see is that the original is freeware and after a kickstarter would be payware and the authors might not like that.....and to be honest neither do I. I am NOT trying to make money and nor would I accept a penny. I think the way forward could be to perhaps make the program only available to the kickstarter funders for a year then after a year release as freeware...so the funders get a years preview and yet the program still remains freeware. Another option is rounding up a lot of eager fractal nut programmers who like working for free and lashing them until they come up with something. The problem with that is flaky people might do bits and drop out when bored or life or money making calls.

My Husband thinks the idea sucks because programmers need a really strong contract and might not complete the work and then all the money would be wasted and we'd get sued. I decided to throw the idea open to the world because I really don't care by who or how it gets done so long as it does. I do agree a strong project manager\lead programmer would be required who had a really strong understanding of programming and fractal mathematics to direct the whole project otherwise it will never go anywhere and the ideals of everyone would not be met.

I also need to ask if others would state if you would like this to happen, if you think it is possible or not with reasons and most importantly what EXACTLY do you want from the new Fractal Explorer if it ever emerges ???

Personally I would like the user formulas part to be fixed and functional and easier to understand. I would also like an easier and more varied background scene generator that could generate far more complex and modern images than the original. I'm sure there are other things I've wished for previously but can't remember them right now.

Dear Cat,
Titia is not among us anymore :(

Oh that's bad...do we know where she went?

See http://virtualmathmuseum.org/mathart/ArtGallerytitia/titiaindex.html

Thanks for the replies. Really sorry to read about Titia, very sad when any fractalist passes on but especially so young.