WHY GIF (TM) IS OBSOLETE UNDER TERMS OF FREE AVAILABILITY

And why you should use PNG whereever you can.

   In some countries the LZW compression algorithm, as e.g. used by
   the GIF graphics file format (known as GIF87a and GIF89a),
   the TIFF 5.0 (LZW compression) graphics file format, the
   GNU "compress" tool, some Fax file formats, some modem compression
   algorithms and various small compression software packages, is
   protected by patents owned by Unisys.

   Many years ago, the algorithm had been published in magazine(s) and more
   or less seemed to be free, but since the Internet boomed and GIF became
   one of the most often used graphic file formats, it also became
   lucrative to take license fees. And that was done.

   In Germany and other countries algorithms as such are not protectable
   in general, but since these are (effectively!) in some other countries
   and the USA, a successor for the GIF file format has been developed,
   which has some very important characteristics:

           - it is completely free in use, as also are the sources
             needed to implement support for it
           - all used algorithms are free of any patent claims
             anywhere
           - it has all the features, which a WWW graphics format
             must have
           - it compresses well and it's lossless
           - together with lossy JPEG it can replace GIF in most cases

   With Amiga Web Browsers, full featured reading is most simply supported:
   there only needs to be a plain datatype plugin module installed
   (like akPNG.datatype) - and it'll work. Most browsers do support
   it natively in newer versions already, though.

   With the newest versions of Internet Explorer and Communicator you will
   be able to view PNG graphics, too - for Netscape Navigator there's also a
   PNG plugin available.

   For writing, you may use tools like gif2png or applications like PersonalPaint,
   SuperView or PNG-Box.

   For more information on PNG in general see the PNG homepage
   or simply start a search.

   There's BTW a good article available, which explains the background somewhat better.
   Please also read, what the Free Software Foundation (FSF), the creators of GNU
   software and copyleft, have to say about this topic.




  
   Use PNG whereever you can.
  

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