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The GIF Format is Finally Patent-Free

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the happy-birthday dept.

tonymercmobily writes "Not many people noticed that the GIF file format is only now free from patents, as of the 1st of October 2006. Quick recap: first in 1999 Unisys tried to extort money from users and developers. Then, in 2003 the world hoped that the saga would finally be over. Then, in 2004, it was IBM's turn. Now, the SAGA seems to be over for real! Does anybody find Unisys' page on GIF as hilarious as I do...?"

21 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. Just in time... by xENoLocO · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... for it to be obsolete.

    --
    "The need to build the internet comes from something inside us, something programmed... something we can't resist."
    1. Re:Just in time... by creepynut · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I for one, don't think GIF is going anywhere. Limited to 256 colours, sure. Keep in mind GIF is one of the most well supported image formats out there, and in the same format we have both transparency (1-bit, at that) and animation. PNG is nice, but thanks to Microsoft, and it's own not supporting animation, it just doesn't work for some things yet.

      I'm sure a big supporter of PNG, but understand why GIF is still around.

    2. Re:Just in time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not supporting animation is PNG's greatest benefit!

    3. Re:Just in time... by mugnyte · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Dude, GIF for animations?

        Like spinning arrows marking paragraphs?
        Howabout dancing pokemon?
        Forum avatar images that flash, blink and jump?
        Emoticons that wink and wave?

        Really, is there any way that technology has enhanced your web experience for the better?

        There are two metaphors here people are used to: Static reading mode, and TV mode. Combining the two is a no no. Do NOT animate portions of a reading metaphor (over-stimuli), and do NOT ask people to just read words via video (under-stimuli).

        The same goes for sound. If people want to listen to something, OFFER it to them, and let them control the start and stop of it. Playing sounds unasked on a web page is just...trashy. Animations are no different.

        HINT: Adblock is popular for a reason. Even IE6 allows one to stop GIFs from animating.

    4. Re:Just in time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I for one, don't think GIF is going anywhere. Limited to 256 colours, sure. Keep in mind GIF is one of the most well supported image formats out there, and in the same format we have both transparency (1-bit, at that) and animation. PNG is nice, but thanks to Microsoft, and it's own not supporting animation, it just doesn't work for some things yet.

      I'm sure a big supporter of PNG, but understand why GIF is still around.

      You mention that they are limited to 256 colors, but I think the real strength is that they can be limited to as few as two colors (or one and a transparency.) You can get crisp effects where they are needed (like black and white line art, or text) much better than the JPEG (which will do its best to bleed, in an effort to make the image look more like a photograph.)

      It's also far more compact-- which is less of a concern for the end user now that dial-up modems are the exception rather than the rule, but can be a boon for a site concerned with bandwidth. And for simple animation it's far easier to create than a flash banner.

      I prefer PNG myself-- but it's amazing how many users still have browsers that don't support it. Hell, it's amazing how many users don't have browsers that support flash for that matter. GIFs will always have a place with those who know the strength of the format.

    5. Re:Just in time... by jthill · · Score: 5, Funny

      I have two answers.

      --
      As always, all IMO. Insert "I think" everywhere grammatically possible.
    6. Re:Just in time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Bow down before MNG the merciless!

    7. Re:Just in time... by value_added · · Score: 5, Informative

      When MNG (animated PNG) is supported by all major browsers, I probably won't use GIF for anything anymore.

      Not being a web developer, I'm not familiar with the features and benefits of MNGs, but if they're at all similar to animated GIFs, I hope Firefox's image.animation_mode=none setting will apply when visiting the web sites you design.

    8. Re:Just in time... by Carewolf · · Score: 4, Informative

      No. Konqueror is the only browser to natively support MNGs, all other browsers need plugins. Mozilla used to some years ago, but they removed native support when no one used MNG.

    9. Re:Just in time... by prmths · · Score: 4, Funny

      Now that it's october 1 and unisys cant kill me anymore... i propose we expand on gif to be capable of a whopping 512 colors! that's right... 9 bit color! who's with me?

      --
      p r m t h s
    10. Re:Just in time... by JourneyExpertApe · · Score: 5, Funny

      But how are people going to know that their computers are infected with 10,342 viruses and spyware if they don't see the vibrating, flashing, and really convincing message box at the top of the webpage?

      --
      If you can read this sig, you're too close.
  2. but really.... by celardore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This doesn't affect the average user, or even creator of GIFs. I imagine that companies like Adobe would not have to pay a royalty any longer, but this saving is unlikely to be passed to purchasers of image software.

  3. Hilarious? USPTO is Hilarious by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Does anybody find Unisys' page on GIF as hilarious as I do...?
    What's so hilarious about it? It plainly states that the patents have expired and that they have more patents based on the technology. I find it sad that their legal department found that necessary.

    What I find genuinely hilarious, however, is the United State of America's Patent System.
    --
    My work here is dung.
  4. Happy October 1st by xsarpedonx · · Score: 4, Funny

    October 1st came early this year...

    1. Re:Happy October 1st by mcmonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not many people noticed that the GIF file format is only now* free from patents

      *For large values of 'now'

  5. well by macadamia_harold · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As lame as this whole thing was, if it hadn't happened, we wouldn't have the PNG standard today.

    --
    Push Button, Receive Bacon
  6. no. by Heem · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does anybody find Unisys' page on GIF as hilarious as I do...? .....No

    --
    Don't Tread on Me
  7. Patents, the world, and Certicom by Ckwop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course, like most on here, I will relish the day that the LZW patent expires. But look at how long that took to expire. Every day someone patents yet another obvious invention and it holds everybody back.

    Take the Certicom 'Patents' on Eliptic Curve cryptography (ECC). Certicom act as if they own ECC - the write it on practically everything they publish.

    Yet on close analysis their patents give them almost no real control of ECC. The long and short of it that anything that operates on GF(p) is not covered.

    The consequences of this is that NOBODY is using ECC, despite the fact that it's faster and has shorter keys. The whole field is held back for 20 years and nobody can make any progress.

    It's not even used in Europe where these patents don't exist. Let me repeat this: The fact that some jerk of a company says it's theirs means the *whole* world doesn't use me.

    I really wonder what goes through the minds of these poeple. Nobody wants to pay a fucktard like Certicom (tm) for a license for their mathematics. Nobody in the history of cryptography has made any serious amount of money from selling a security scheme. Why bother?

    Simon

  8. Evidence? by eddy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Evidence? Except for 1x1 images and the like, you're wrong. And you shouldnt' be using 1x1 images anyhow so...

    Before sending any examples, make sure you're comparing same-depth images and have used pngout.

    I once, as a demonstration, took a review off HardOCP and converted/recompressed all their GIFs into PNG, and saved several hundreds of kilobytes.

    Still webmasters continue to use GIF because of ignorance.

    --
    Belief is the currency of delusion.
  9. Re:killed the format by nine-times · · Score: 4, Insightful

    JPEG isn't a replacement for GIF. 8-bit PNG serves pretty well as a replacement under many circumstances, but it's not supported as ubiquitously, nor does it support animation. Java and Javascript have nothing to do with it, and flash is fine for some animations, but it's certainly no less encumbered by IP restrictions than GIF.

    Let's say you have a 4 color raster logo. Are you going to make a JPEG? That'd be dumb. Let's say you have that same logo, and you want to animate it for 3 frames. What's a better solution than animated GIF?

  10. Thank god and the patent office by Ancient_Hacker · · Score: 4, Funny

    Finally, I can now sleep soundly, knowing the flaming torches on by web site are -fully legal- flaming torches.