Re:x2 editing gifs with Perl

recently the company that owns the GIF compression algorithm has started to assert its rights.

Heh! Well in that case they (Unisys) had better hurry and start suing people, because the clock is ticking and the patent is due to expire in six months (June 2003). Funny how things turn out, we were told to burn our GIFs and embrace PNG, and here we are in 2002, and GIFs are just as pervasive as ever. And now it seems that in six months time we won't even have to bother any more. I wonder how long it will take for the meme to die?

Mind you, I like PNGs from an ethical point of view, but they suffer from a big flaw over GIFs: they are bigger. If you want all the functionality the specification has to offer they are indeed très cool, but if you just want to replace GIFs you're worse off in terms of space.

Some more reading material on the GIF patent issue:

http://cse.stanford.edu/class/cs201/projects-99-00/software-patents/lzw.html - general info on the issue
the patent database entry (the URL is too long to display properly without destroying the layout).

print@_{sort keys %_},$/if%_=split//,'= & *a?b:e\f/h^h!j+n,o@o;r$s-t%t#u'

Comment on Re:x2 editing gifs with Perl

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PNG by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on Dec 18, 2002 at 18:00 UTC
The Portable Network Graphics (or PNG) file format features lossless compression, alpha channels, gamma correction and two-dimensional interlacing. PNGs (generally) compress better than GIFs by 5 - 25%. PNG supports 48-bit truecolor and 16-bit grayscale. Just remember that using truecolor images come at a cost of greatly increased file size. Recommended reading: everything at the PNG Home Site.	[reply]
Re: PNG by rozallin (Curate) on Dec 18, 2002 at 21:37 UTC
Unfortunately, PNGs are still not universally supported, and thus you run the risk that some users will not be able to see inline PNGs. And even the browsers that do support PNGs don't fully support all the nifty, useful features. Versions 4 and Up of the "Big Two" (except IE 4 for the Macintosh) can view PNG images but support for advanced features such as gamma correction and alpha transparency remain broken and buggy. -- Rozallin J. Thompson The Webmistress who doesn't hesitate to use strict;	[reply]