gfish: (Default)
gfish ([personal profile] gfish) wrote2004-07-07 10:52 am

Slashdoty goodness

LZW is out of patent. Wow, end of an era. I hope PNG isn't hurt too bad by this, though. I still really prefer it to GIF, even without the evil IP issues.

And, check it out, a new Vinge short story. I really want to live in his future. No one gets where computers are going like he does, not even Ken MacLeod.

[identity profile] niac.livejournal.com 2004-07-07 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Spiffy story, and yeah, you're right.

[identity profile] shadowblue.livejournal.com 2004-07-07 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
PNG is so huge though.
Or, at least, everything I ever download in PNG format (which is, almost always, from cyphertext) takes forever to download. :)

[identity profile] shadowblue.livejournal.com 2004-07-07 04:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I really liked that. I will have to get more of his work.

[identity profile] adularia.livejournal.com 2004-07-07 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
PNG's got enough advantages that GIF lacks. I much doubt it will be hurt.

[identity profile] grinninfoole.livejournal.com 2004-07-09 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
What is LZW?

[identity profile] gfish.livejournal.com 2004-07-09 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
The (no longer) patented compression algorithm used by the GIF standard. Because it was patented, they got to extort user fees out of people who wrote GIF viewers/encoders, messing up lots of free software development and generally being a big pain. A good object lesson in why standards shouldn't include patented technology, and why software patents can really suck.