In article <46367310.3060808@Worldnet.att.net>, "Paul N. Lee" <Paul.N.Lee@Worldnet.att.net> writes:
I would much rather see you complete the other project you started, the Windows version of FractInt. That would really be more useful to everybody, more so than an online database of files that most of us already have anyway.
Paul, I think you're missing the point of an online database hooked up to a web service. Currently, if people want to share PAR/etc. files, they have to mail them around. I get a mail message. I have to extract the PAR/etc. file from the mail message manually, since thye typically aren't even sent as attachments. Then I have to get the file into the right directory for fractint. Then I load it as a file in fractint. If the database were available as a web service, I could browse other people's files that they've uploaded to a community site directly through fractint via the web service. Yes, this would require some code changes to fractint, but its already getting a major overhaul. Would I code this tomorrow? No, there are more important items to do. However, in addition to where we are (massively lagging behind the "state of the normal", never mind state of the art), its important to know where to steer the ship, i.e. where we are going. In addition to rejuvenating the code, its time we rejuvenated the user base. Although I have no data, I believe that there are many people who go looking for fractal programs these days and frankly, fractint is not the one that they choose. The reasons are probably varied: the DOSness, the UI, the 8.3 filename limitations and so on are all probably part of the problem. For fractint to reclaim its place at the peak of popularity for fractal generating programs, it needs to do more than just catch up. It needs to start leaping ahead of others. Integration with a community web site that facilitated sharing of data files more directly is one way it could do that. Imagine a PAR file RSS feed that automatically feeds new PARs into fractint, for instance. Each time you launch fractint it could automatically show you the latest FOTDs, for example. Its time to think outside the DOS box. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>