{"id":2069,"date":"2010-12-07T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2010-12-07T21:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2069"},"modified":"2010-12-07T16:19:34","modified_gmt":"2010-12-07T21:19:34","slug":"2011-the-year-of-the-fractal-desktop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2069","title":{"rendered":"2011: The Year of the Fractal Desktop?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fractal Art (Jean Marais) becomes famous in the film Orpheus (1950) by Jean Cocteau<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition to the fractal art world, I also try to follow events in the Linux desktop world.\u00a0 I’ve noticed some similarities, particularly with respect to the perennial question asked by both fractalists and Linux-ists:\u00a0 When will the rest of the world discover what we’ve discovered?<\/p>\n

You all know something about Linux; probably as much about Linux as the “rest of the world” knows about fractals.\u00a0 I am not about to start ranting about why you should “switch to Linux” because you don’t care what operating system you use and I don’t either.<\/p>\n

But the Linux zealots care and they feel (strongly) that if only the “restoftheworld” could just find out how great Linux is and how easy it is to use, then Linux adoption would take off and this year… would be… The Year of the Linux Desktop!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lately, for the last year or so, there have been rumblings (minor blog posts) suggesting that maybe there will never<\/em> be a Year of the Linux Desktop.\u00a0 The reasons are simple: Windows works just fine now (it has ever since Xp arrived); and “therestoftheworld” doesn’t care about the things that Linux people care about.<\/p>\n

The fractal art world is much smaller than the Linux world; it also lacks the social activism upon which Linux (Gnu project) was founded.\u00a0 For those reasons there are much fewer rumblings in the fractal world because there are much fewer commentators and bloggers in it.<\/p>\n

There isn’t going to be a “Great Fractal Awakening” in the “restoftheworld”.\u00a0 Neither 2011 nor any other year will be the year of the Linux or “fractal desktop”.\u00a0 This is it.\u00a0 It’s just us and the little trickle of newcomers who wander into town every now and then.<\/p>\n

Why will there be no year of the fractal desktop?\u00a0 As it is with the Linux desktop, the reasons are simple: While most people may go, “Wow!” when they first see a fractal, it doesn’t resonate in the very core of their being like it does with fractal enthusiasts.\u00a0 It’s not the sort of thing “therestoftheworld” goes for.<\/p>\n

There’s nothing wrong with fractal art or how it’s being “presented to the world”<\/em>.\u00a0 The restoftheworld is a bunch of losers and fractal art just isn’t for them.<\/p>\n

Consider how much the restoftheworld is a “bunchoflosers”:<\/p>\n