> If you look at the source code you will find there is support for reading > gifs, but none for generating them. gif is a proprietry non-free format. You > have to pay a license fee if you want to distribute applications which > generate gifs. You can however distribute code which reads gifs for free. > > The alternatives are to use png or jpeg formats. > > I can't remember all the details, but all of this is due to some rather > famous > legal moves initiated a few years ago by a large US corporation. The PNG > format was developed as a direct response. By not using gifs you are > indirectly promoting the use of open standards/protocols/formats. > > Some others may have a clearer recollection of the details.
The point is not in the gif format itself, but in the compression algorithm used in gif. Some company (Unisys?) claims a patent on that algorithm, but not on the decompression algorithm, which is why the reading of gifs is free. Software patents stink. HTH, Eric -- E.L. Meijer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) | tel. office +31 40 2472189 Eindhoven Univ. of Technology | tel. lab. +31 40 2475032 Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (TAK) | tel. fax +31 40 2455054
