Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 20:36:42 -0400
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
From: Bob Rankin <bobrankin@ULSTER.NET>
Subject: TOURBUS - 07 Sep 99 - GIF Tax?
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Free Greeting Cards, Polls and more fun at http://www.TOURBUS.com !
TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: GIF Tax?
Hi All! This past week, some Tourbus readers have been asking me
if it's really true that some company wants to charge people a fee
for using graphics on their websites. Hoax or true? Read on, but
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=====================================
UNISYS WANTS YOUR MONEY - PART DEUX
=====================================
If you've been on the Bus for a while, you'll remember my article
"Bad Patents" (30 Aug 98) which described how technology companies are
being awarded some pretty silly patents. In that story, I touched on
the 1994 situation where UNISYS tried to extract a licensing fee from
developers wanting to use the ubiquitous GIF graphics file format.
A bit of background... Almost all images on web pages are in either
JPEG or GIF format. And UNISYS owns the patent on the compression
algorithm used by software packages that create GIF images. Five
years ago when they saw the proliferation of GIFs on the burgeoning
Web, the bean counters at UNISYS figured there was a big ol' pile of
money to made by putting the squeeze on software developers who
wanted to write programs that create or manipulate GIF images.
To put it mildly, UNISYS was harshly criticized from all corners,
and was forced to back down. They must have *just* finished wiping
the egg off their corporate face, because they're at it again...
One GIF - That'll be $5000, Please
----------------------------------
But this time, they're going after webmasters. As incredible as it
sounds, UNISYS is demanding payment of $5000 if you use even one GIF
image on your website that was created by an "unlicensed" program.
Did somebody say McStupid?
UNISYS has all but guaranteed itself a prominent place in the hall of
fame of most-hated corporations. Hundreds of thousands of people will
remember the nuisance UNISYS caused by forcing them to replace all
their GIF images, and these same tech-savvy people will surely remember
not to buy UNISYS products.
And you SHOULD replace your GIFs - because nobody in their right mind
would pay for the privilege of using outdated, patented technology when
there are free alternatives that are even better. Unless you know for
sure that all your GIFs were created by a UNISYS-licensed program, you
should convert your images to JPEG format, or use the up and coming...
PNG!
----
PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics, and is a new image format
that uses a powerful and free compression technique. Both Netscape
and Explorer support the PNG format (pronounced "ping") in V4 and
higher releases.
And here's a nifty site that'll tell you everything you need to know
about PNG files, including how to create and use them, and how to
convert other files to PNG format.
<A href="http://graphicswiz.com/png">
http://graphicswiz.com/png </A>
Unfortunately, PNG files cannot replace animated GIFs, but there is
a MNG format that supports animation. Hopefully the MNG format will
be supported soon in Netscape and Explorer.
What Should I Do?
-----------------
If you don't have a web page and you never will, none of this applies
to you. You can view patent-infringing GIF files all day long with
your web browser of choice, and nobody will care.
It's not likely that a UNISYS lawyer will come knocking if you're
running a small site or personal web page. So the first option is
to do nothing. If they DO contact you, that would be a perfect time
to tell them that you've just decided to "upgrade" your site to the
PNG format, and you'll be chucking all those obsolete GIFs anyway.
It makes sense to start converting all your GIFs to PNG format, since
PNG files are smaller and will make your site load faster. But if
you can't live without GIFs, and you don't want to pay the $5000 GIF
Tax, you can get a graphics program that is officially licensed and
then re-save all your "illegal" GIFs.
If your graphics software is made by Microsoft, Corel, Symantec, JASC,
Adobe, Claris, or a handful of other companies, you can PROBABLY make
legal GIFs. To see the official UNISYS press release, and a list of
companies that are licensed to use the UNISYS patent, go to:
<A href="http://corp2.unisys.com/LeadStory/lzw-license.html">
http://corp2.unisys.com/LeadStory/lzw-license.html </A>
What about flaming UNISYS? My suggestion - don't bother. They are
their own punishment. This GIF licensing decision will cost them
millions in the long run. I like the advice of the folks who run the
"Burn All GIFs" site:
> Switch to a non-patented graphics format, burn your GIFs to call
> attention to the fact that you're doing so, and avoid patent
> minefields in the future.
To learn more about this issue, and exactly what the "Burn All GIFs"
people are up to, you can visit:
<A href="http://BurnAllGIFs.org">
http://BurnAllGIFs.org </A>
Visit the TOURBUS Website!
---------------------------
Don't forget we have over FOUR YEARS of archived TOURBUS issues
available at the TOURBUS website. You'll also find the archives
of "Tourbus en Espanol" dating back to March 1997, Free Greeting
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could be more fun? :-)
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That's all for now - see you next time! --Bob Rankin
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