Industry News

Will GIF's Patent expiration kill PNG?

Yet more (alleged) roadblocks to progress on the net:
End of Tax Free commerce in EU and

FCC Cable Modem taxes proposed

[Uranium-235]

the only real thing gif has over PNG is animation.

it might put the kibosh on PNG for the web, but I already know a few games (like Tribes2) that use PNG as it's primary texture format

I serously doubt PNG's lack of universal exceptance is the fault of Microsoft.

what... you didnt know? Bill gates is the antichrist him self yes it was he that ran over you cat when you were a small child, and yes all versions of windows cause your computer to emit cancer causeing rad. (the cure is microsofts next big step) Its called barriers to entry people ... ya its hard for small companies .. but its because microsoft is damn good at what they do.Untill some one comes along that is a better bis man than bill gates deal with it

Ryon: Please try to avoid turning this into a flame post. I'm not saying you are necessarily turning it that way, but it is somewhat borderline. There is room for lively debate about open standards, data formats, source code, and the merits of tech evangelism. If you degrade the discussion to mocking other members or creating humor at their expense (is there a difference?), your contributions will go under appreciated. In an attempt to start such debate, i'll go ahead and post some of my own thoughts on the subject. These thoughts have been formed by working on patent legislation and seeing the merits and demerits of the system from a legal point of view.

I would like to see open standards and open data formats that way my use of a product at one point in time does not defacto limit my ability to use another product in the future because of data incompatibility increasing the costs of transition to prohibitively high levels.. Neither of these will damage any programmer's or company's ability to compete or innovate, it simply allows rival companies to integrate data seamlessly with other programs.

I advocate for open source laws for somewhat different reasons. When someone invents a machine of some type (or a drug, etc.) they have to explicitly lay down how everything works, products used, and how it's made. It's part of the patent process and has been for years. It is not very common to use the specific documentation provided by patent-holders to prove that someone has copied methods exactly because it is so difficult to make a product which uses someone else's patent. The burden of dealing with such claims is much less, because everything is open. If all code was opened (like it is in every other industry), then it would be REALLY obvious (and easily prosecuted) if someone attempted to copy code from someone else. But also, I could alter that code to my liking for my own personal use. You don't see people getting arrested for putting a supercharger in a Ford, why should I with an OS? Such openness protects patent holder rights, not infringe on them. Also, with this system, you wouldn’t get crazy companies (read: SCO) making allegations and threats worth millions of dollars unsubstantiated, stalling market movements.

i'm not some anti-MS fanatic. I use Windows even though i's made by MS. That's about the only MS product I use, but it's not from some sort of anti-MS sentiment (which, while I do have it, is a product of their behavior). I have used wordperfect since i was learning to type on an 8086. I like the way it works, and I come close to crying when I can't use reveal codes. I avoid using anything that operates similar to Word, b/c of the way word operates, not because of MS. Hence, no open office for me.

IE however is a product that has survived solely because of market dominance in an 'unrelated' field. After windows was established, IE was packaged with it, everyone used it (b/c they didn't have to pay for a browser), and since it came with all their computers, companies used it. Then MS built lots of software that used non-standard rendering (DHTML, ActiveX, and Frontpage) so that companies were forced to stick with IE. Now with IE dominating the browser market, we see almost NO development in IE since version 4. As for MS being responsible for PNG accepantce, I would agree. It's definitely not wholly responsible. But I think it's a safe bet to say PNG would have significantly more market share if IE supported it.

Bill Gates is not just a better "bis man," he's a bis man that has forever altered the computer landscape using illegal business methods to stifle and thwart competition. Courts have held the same thing a dozen times over.

Sorry for the excessively long post, but perhaps we can get some real discussion going in this thread.

James,
Let me first start by saying im sorry if you misunderstood my post as "flaming". What you saw was ment as humor. The openness is why i am a member of this forum. Did i poke a little fun, ya, you bet your ass i did and will contunue to do so. And i may be alone on this but i view all as equals on this board. I don't care if you are staff or the newest member. The very nature if a livley debate is that all are treated as equals. Im not saying i intend to hurt ANYONES feelings, but on the same token if they get there feelings hurt i cant really help that.
That being said ... You seem to think that i see you as an anti-ms fanatic. I never said that express or implied. I, am also an advocate of open source. You can put a chevy 350 in your ford for all i care. The point im trying to make is that they have be doing somthing right(as well as somthings wrong) but as long as people take the opeate then ms will contiue to sell it. [/i]