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LanKuchang
Junior Member
Malaysia
120 Posts |
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laser
Advanced Member
Australia
3859 Posts |
 Posted - 06 January 2003 : 18:54:18
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| Scroll down to "About burnallgifs.org" and read. |
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LanKuchang
Junior Member
Malaysia
120 Posts |
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Doug G
Support Moderator
USA
6493 Posts |
Posted - 06 January 2003 : 19:19:17
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Beware of geeks bearing gifs!
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Doug G
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Computer history and help at www.dougscode.com |
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Nikkol
Forum Moderator
USA
6907 Posts |
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TestMagic
Senior Member
USA
1568 Posts |
Posted - 06 January 2003 : 20:15:16
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LOL, Nikkol!  I wouldn't have gotten it without the answer!! |
Snitz rocks! · Search 2 |
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Deleted
deleted
4116 Posts |
Posted - 07 January 2003 : 00:04:54
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| Why burn GIFs and not the patent office itself? |
 Stop the WAR! |
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TestMagic
Senior Member
USA
1568 Posts |
Posted - 07 January 2003 : 02:36:00
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| Do you guys remember that post the guy made a while ago about the US Patent Office giving a patent to the "revolutionary" new technique of using a laser pointer to get cats to jump around? I thought it was a spoof, but sure enough, I went to the US Patent Office website and saw that it was indeed true. Something definitely wrong with that!!! |
Snitz rocks! · Search 2 |
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Deleted
deleted
4116 Posts |
Posted - 07 January 2003 : 03:39:15
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quote:
"revolutionary" new technique of using a laser pointer to get cats to jump around?
My mistake not to register the technique with the patent office. I've been using this method for five years now. I could be rich because every person who make his/her cat to play with laser dot on the floor had to pay me  . What a nonsence!
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Stop the WAR! |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 07 January 2003 : 03:51:42
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The main problem is that if you're going to have to pay to use GIF images, PNG files aren't really a solution (but neither are BMPs or JPGs, not even mentioning how useless SWF is). The file size of PNG files is most of the time quite a bit larger than a comparable GIF file, especially when you use 32-bit (high quality) PNG files, which have the problem that transparency isn't handled well in browsers (yet?).
I've looked into using PNG files instead of GIFs when I did my last redesign for FrutZle.com, but decided against it mainly because of the sizes of the files. Maybe with the next browser "generation" PNG will get better support, and hopefully more and more people will get broadband internet connections, solving the problems there are at this moment. |
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LanKuchang
Junior Member
Malaysia
120 Posts |
Posted - 07 January 2003 : 05:19:35
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so what now?
if unisys have their way.. we got to pay USD5,000 or use PNG?
what this all means?
quote:
Now Unisys is taking final advantage of its patent, which is set to expire in the United States in 2003. At the same time, alternative formats, such as PNG, may be closer than ever to winning broad acceptance.
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 07 January 2003 : 05:52:37
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quote:
Last August, the company sparked protests across the Web by announcing that individuals running noncommercial sites might in some cases be required to license its GIF technology for a $5,000 fee.
There doesn't seem to be anything you could do about it if they would want to go after you, except dropping all GIF files and using something else. I don't think it'll happen very often though, and even if they do want to get some money in their pockets, they'll go after large sites, not small ones. |
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ruirib
Snitz Forums Admin
Portugal
26364 Posts |
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davemaxwell
Access 2000 Support Moderator
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 07 January 2003 : 07:57:18
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| The only time that applies is if you use an non-licensed software package to create the images. So if you use photoshop or paint shop pro or corel to make your images, you would be totally legal. The patent is totally unenforceable because they are not going to try to take every holder of gif images because there would be no way of determining how the image was created.... |
Dave Maxwell
Barbershop Harmony Freak |
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Carefree
Advanced Member
Philippines
4222 Posts |
Posted - 07 January 2003 : 08:06:48
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Non-commercial sites paying $5000? Every personal homepage? What a greedy bunch of $@$#@$. Give me a break. If you read a related story, you'll see this quote:
quote:
Revenue for the third quarter of 2002 declined 3% to $1.33 billion from $1.38 billion a year ago.
Maybe this is their "fourth quarter initiative" that is supposed to be announced on Jan 21. |
Edited by - Carefree on 07 January 2003 08:07:35 |
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Gremlin
General Help Moderator
New Zealand
7528 Posts |
Posted - 07 January 2003 : 08:10:14
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quote:
but then I don't do high quality graphics ...
You can't do quality work with GIF anyway, too many limitations with the format.
PNG is starting to gain acceptance now, all version 6 browsers support it I believe. |
Kiwihosting.Net - The Forum Hosting Specialists
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Topic Locked
--> gifs under the Christmas tree