http://burnallgifs.org

Yup you heard me, burn all your non-animated GIFs.
But before that convert them to PNG, of course. :D

PNG Homepage
http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/png.html

Apps with PNG Support
http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/pngapps.html

MNG: The animated replacement for animated GIFs
http://www.libpng.org/pub/mng/

Hey! You've just used a GIF right there!!!

Ha, fining us for using GIF's - that'll be the day.

#^*@&$@# assholes... over my dead body!

What the hell is so wrong with gifs in the first place?

The copyright belongs to Unisys and they're pulling a Microsoft move - they want everybody who uses them to cough up big bucks.

I never liked gifs in the first place. Like all good things, people abused it.

WTF!?!?!


I don't even care :D

lol. several things come to mind:
1. amazon.com ordered all other pages to stop using the procedure of buying online stuff, that everyone had been using. but it wasnt patented. so amazon patented it after everyone had been using it for a while.
2. Warner Bros. (i think) ordered thousands of webpages dealing with Harry Potter(most run by children) to close down, because Warner Bros. had bought the rights, and now owned everthing having to do with harry potter.
3. Real Networks told Nullsoft to remove the RA plugins from the page:D


just some examples of companies wanting everthing to themselves.:D

Just copyright the damn world and make people pay for living why dun'cha. :eek:

didnt sarge say that?

Unisys's licence agreement for LZW (i.e. GIF's compression algorithm) is here.

If you really read through the agreement, you'll realize most of us have nothing to worry about. Most graphics programs from major vendors are already covered by a Unisys LZW licence, and you don't need to obtain your own licence for the GIFs you produce from these programs.

But for "billboard" websites (e.g. Winamp Forums), the webmasters cannot always ascertain that every GIF posted on the site is produced from licensed programs, so they will need to choke up US$5,000 to buy a site licence from Unisys. *ka-ching!* What a way to get rich fast on the Internet. :rolleyes:

mmmkay, thats fucked up right there.

PNG can support both 8-bit indexed colour and full 24-bit colour. Where GIF can include 1-bit transparency(where each pixel is either transparent or not), PNG has full 8-bit transparency with alpha channels, so a graphic could be partially opaque in some areas.

Some of its spiffier features include:

- unambiguous pronunciation
- multiple CRCs so that file integrity can be checked without viewing
- ultra-clever magic signature that can detect the most common types of file corruption
- better compression than GIF, typically 5% to 25% (but often 40% or 50% better on tiny images)
- non-patented, completely lossless compression two-dimensional interlacing scheme
- 1-, 2-, 4- and 8-bit palette support (like GIF)
- 1-, 2-, 4-, 8- and 16-bit grayscale support
- 8- and 16-bit-per-sample (that is, 24- and 48-bit) truecolor support
- full alpha transparency in 8- and 16-bit modes, not just simple on-off transparency like GIF
- ``palette-alpha'' mode, effectively transforming normal RGB palette into RGBA
- gamma correction for cross-platform ``brightness'' control
- color correction for cross-platform, precision color
- both compressed and uncompressed text chunks for copyright and other info
- full Year 2000 (Y2K) support, and then some
- free and complete reference implementation with full source code

That's all well and good, but few people even know about it. I use PNG all the time for files on my HD, but when I publish to the web, I usually have to convert to JPEG. That's cuz I often post wallpapers, images, etc. that are designed to be downloaded to your hard drive... not many people can open up PNG's, and Windows doesn't support the PNG format for wallpapers.

So, till things change (as this patenting case will mostly likely cause), PNG will remain the ugly duckling.

Wow, PNG sounds really good. Time to start converting images...

I think it will only affect large companies like Adobe, Macromedia and such. How can they charge me:confused: oops I just used one:eek: oops! :D

its just like that company that "invented" the hyperlink. they tryed to make the websites that used hyperlinks pay up BIG every time someone clicked on one. i worked for about a month trying to make a replacement for the hyperlink, but i did no good. anyways, that case blew over about a year ago when the supreme court "aka the biggest zoo on earth" said "ho-hum" and dismissed them.

lol, john, how long did you spend on that?

actually took me about 5 minutes to make one i liked :D

And Sarge, if you are reading this, make me a full body WolfieD smilie.

Now.

Or else I shall burn thee.

since wolfie made request. i want one too please:)

Shouldn't you first provide a full frontal nude photo of yourself so your body frame can be accurately modeled by Sarge?And you too.

Umm, no.

Now, don't GIMP and Corel use PNG some of the time?

I'm glad to say that Macromedia Fireworks uses PNG as its native format. (Of course, there's a PNG export option that lets you publish PNGs on the web that's free from Fireworks' metadata.)

I usually use PNG's unless transparency or animation are needed. In which case I must use GIF's. :(

Why would you even want to use GIF for transparency when PNG has full alpha transparency in 8- and 16-bit modes, not just simple on-off transparency like GIF. Basically, the only thing you should use GIF for is animation until MNG is supported in all browsers(MNG is the format for animation). Other than that, GIF has many drawbacks and limitations, why anyone is still using them is beyond me.

http://www.libmng.com/

Homepage of MNG, the animated PNG version.

It seems that Mozilla and Netscape6(based on Mozilla) has internal support for MNG. For those using other browsers, you can try the MNG plugin here(based on libmng).

http://entropymine.com/jason/mngplg/

I can't wait for MNG to be widely supported.

who does? :)

Because I'm stuck here with PSP 4 SE, no transparency whatsoever. I have to use a different program to convert to GIFs. :(

that leaves Shitty JPEG Left - its the only other format supported by websites when i was with freeservers - it did not allow png - it was in the file manager as Binary/PNG not Image/PNG The BMP-Format violated the liscence as it used too much bandwith and JPG Is too darn lossy under 96DPI it is fine under 300 but 96 the borders go swishy...

like i said: who gives two fucks and a shit about pic's.
i mean come on. all they really are is a bunch of data which isnt at the least bit can be liquidatible (or exchanged for $$)

http://www.corbis.com
http://www.gettysimages.com
http://www.digitalblashphemy.com

Obviously, these people, as well as every photographer, print artist, and graphics designer do.

now that is a damn good idea,
i, matthew, hereby patent the whole world, the surrounding space, and all contained within

hmm, or not, i could never enforce it, damn

You didn't create it in the first place.

oh, right, damnit

uhm, i mean, how do you know?

What's your birthdate? :p

The amusing thing is that animated GIF support is partially broken in the latest build of Mozilla!

ACK!! I think I'll go back to lurking... =P

No seriously, I'll make you guys smilies. =)
Wolfie, s, Matt, and anyone else that wants them, just send me a (preferably clothed) pic at sgtfuzzbubble99@yahoo.com =)

Oh damn! I've still gotta make your Lumina, John! I started on it a while back, so I'll finish it up for ya. =) Sorry 'bout that. I'm not sure when it'll be done though... I had to open up a major can of whoopass on Homestead last night to get my site updated. =) Their editor sux0rs. The source code that it puts out is quite frightening. =P


Hmmm... that does sound a little familiar. =)


[edit]
Oh look... A post from the Sarge with nary a gif to be found. =P
[/edit]