Good qualification (remember, I'm independant, I don't work directly for CIS)
<G>
There are two ways to construct the GIF compression royalties. If you are
writing a browser that JUST interfaces with CompuServe, you can construct a deal
with CIS themselves. OTOH, if you are doing ANYTHING else (including any time
of decoding), you have to sign an agreement with Unisys. (who's patent office
I've talked to, and they are lucky if they know what GIF is).
Thus, most browser writers (other than me) on this list probably owe royalties
to Unisys.
OTOH, if you have a 'freeware' product, you don't owe GIF royalties. The
royalty is also for the compression method, not the file format.
Thus, by recommending GIF, you are also recommending to expose DETAILED
financial's from companies to Unisys, who can examine any and all records at
whim. (this is worse than the IRS, which is the bulk of many developer's
objections to Unisys, not so much the royalties).
I know of some developers' that are ignoring UNISYS, assuming that because the
patent was not defended from the start, that it is not enforceable. IANAL: (I
am not a lawyer) consult legal advice before embarking on this route.
I still recommend requiring (or strongly recommending) JPEG for lossly
compression, and PNG for lossless copmression. Optionally, GIF, but not
required.
== John D. Gwinner ==
== CyberForum/Visual CompuServe
== VisNet, Inc
== "Making CyberSpace Real" (TM)