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[gnu-pl] wwwgnudiff - raport nr 229
|
From: |
Wojciech Kotwica |
|
Subject: |
[gnu-pl] wwwgnudiff - raport nr 229 |
|
Date: |
Tue, 10 Feb 2004 05:28:23 +0100 |
--- prev/www/philosophy/gif.html Mon Jun 30 00:35:05 2003
+++ curr/www/philosophy/gif.html Tue Feb 10 05:27:52 2004
@@ -1,106 +1,109 @@
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
-<HTML>
-<HEAD>
-<TITLE>Why no GIFs - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)</TITLE>
-<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:address@hidden";>
-</HEAD>
-<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#1F00FF" ALINK="#FF0000"
VLINK="#9900DD">
-
-<H3>Why there are no GIF files on GNU web pages</H3>
-
-<A HREF="/graphics/philosophicalgnu.html"><IMG
SRC="/graphics/philosophical-gnu-sm.jpg"
- ALT=" [image of a Philosophical Gnu] "
- WIDTH="160" HEIGHT="200"></A>
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en">
-<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical!!! -->
-[
- <A HREF="/philosophy/gif.html">English</A>
-| <A HREF="/philosophy/gif.fr.html">French</A>
-| <a href="/philosophy/gif.de.html">German</a>
-| <A HREF="/philosophy/gif.ja.html">Japanese</A>
-| <A HREF="/philosophy/gif.ko.html">Korean</A>
-| <A HREF="/philosophy/gif.pl.html">Polish</A>
-| <A HREF="/philosophy/gif.ru.html">Russian</A>
-]
+<head>
+<title>Why There Are No GIF files on GNU Web Pages</title>
+<meta http-equiv="content-type" content='text/html; charset=utf-8' />
+<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/gnu.css" />
+<link rev="made" href="address@hidden" />
+</head>
-<P>
-There are no GIFs on the GNU web site because of the patents (Unisys
-and IBM) covering the LZW compression algorithm which is used in
-making GIF files. These patents make it impossible to have free
-software to generate proper GIFs. They also apply to the
-<STRONG>compress</STRONG> program, which is why GNU does not use it or its
-format.
+<!-- This document is in XML, and xhtml 1.0 -->
+<!-- Please make sure to properly nest your tags -->
+<!-- and ensure that your final document validates -->
+<!-- consistent with W3C xhtml 1.0 and CSS standards -->
+<!-- See validator.w3.org -->
-<P>
+<body>
-Unisys and IBM both applied for patents in 1983. Unisys (and perhaps IBM)
-applied for these patents in a number of countries. Of the places whose
-patent databases we were able to search, the latest expiration date seems
-to be Wednesday 7 July 2004 <a name="returnnote"
-href="#venuenote"><sup>1</sup></a>. Until then, anyone who releases a
-free program for making GIF files is likely to be sued. We don't know any
-reason to think that the patent owners would lose these lawsuits.
-
-<P>
-
-If we released such a program, Unisys and IBM might think it wiser (for
-public relations reasons) not to sue a charity like the FSF. They could
-instead sue the users of the program, including the companies who
-redistribute GNU software. We feel it would not be responsible behavior
-for us to set up this situation.
-
-<P>
-
-Many people think that Unisys has given permission for distributing free
-software to make GIF format. Unfortunately that is not what Unisys has
-actually done. Here is what Unisys actually said about the matter in
-1995:
-
-<P>
-
-<BLOCKQUOTE>
-<STRONG>
-Unisys does not require licensing, or fees to be paid, for
-non-commercial, non-profit GIF-based applications, including those for
-use on the on-line services.
-Concerning developers of software for the Internet network, the
-same principle applies. Unisys will not pursue previous inadvertent
-infringement by developers producing versions of software products for
-the Internet prior to 1995. The company does not require licensing,
-or fees to be paid for non-commercial, non-profit offerings on the
-Internet, including "Freeware".
-</STRONG>
-</BLOCKQUOTE>
+<a href="#translations">Translations</a> of this page
-<P>
-Unfortunately, this doesn't permit
+<h3>Why There Are No GIF files on GNU Web Pages</h3>
-<A HREF="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</A>, only
+<a href="/graphics/philosophicalgnu.html"><img
src="/graphics/philosophical-gnu-sm.jpg" alt=" [image of a Philosophical Gnu]
"></a>
-<A HREF="/philosophy/categories.html#semi-freeSoftware">semi-free
-software (18k characters)</A> which cannot be used in a free operating system
such as
-GNU. It also does not permit <em>at all</em> the use of LZW
-for other purposes such as compression of files. This is why we
-had to develop <A HREF="/software/gzip/gzip.html">GNU zip</A>
-as a replacement for <STRONG>compress</STRONG>.
+<hr />
-<P>
+<p>
+There are no GIFs on the GNU web site because of the patents (Unisys
+and IBM) covering the LZW compression algorithm which is used in
+making GIF files. These patents make it impossible to have free
+software to generate proper GIFs. They also apply to the
+<strong>compress</strong> program, which is why GNU does not use
+it or its format.
+<p>
+
+<p>
+Unisys and IBM both applied for patents in 1983. Unisys (and
+perhaps IBM) applied for these patents in a number of countries.
+Of the places whose patent databases we were able to search, the
+latest expiration date seems to be Friday 11 August 2006
+<a name="returnnote" href="#venuenote"><sup>1</sup></a>. Until then,
+anyone who releases a free program for making GIF files is likely
+to be sued. We don't know any reason to think that the patent
+owners would lose these lawsuits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If we released such a program, Unisys and IBM might think it wiser
+(for public relations reasons) not to sue a charity like the FSF.
+They could instead sue the users of the program, including the
+companies who redistribute GNU software. We feel it would not be
+responsible behavior for us to set up this situation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many people think that Unisys has given permission for distributing
+free software to make GIF format. Unfortunately that is not what
+Unisys has actually done. Here is what Unisys actually said about
+the matter in 1995:
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+<strong>Unisys does not require licensing, or fees to be paid,
+for non-commercial, non-profit GIF-based applications, including
+those for use on the on-line services. Concerning developers of
+software for the Internet network, the same principle applies.
+Unisys will not pursue previous inadvertent infringement by developers
+producing versions of software products for the Internet prior to
+1995. The company does not require licensing, or fees to be paid
+for non-commercial, non-profit offerings on the Internet, including
+"Freeware".</strong>
+</p>
+</blockquote>
-<A HREF="/philosophy/selling.html">Commercial redistribution of free
-software</A> is very important, and we want the GNU system as a whole to
-be redistributed commercially. This means we can't add a GIF-generating
-program to GNU, not under the Unisys terms.
+<p>
+Unfortunately, this doesn't permit
+<a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>, only
+<a href="/philosophy/categories.html#semi-freeSoftware">semi-free
+software</a> which cannot be used in a free operating system such
+as GNU. It also does not permit <em>at all</em> the use of LZW
+for other purposes such as compression of files. This is why we
+had to develop <a href="/software/gzip/gzip.html">GNU zip</a>
+as a replacement for <strong>compress</strong>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="/philosophy/selling.html">Commercial redistribution of
+free software</a> is very important, and we want the GNU system as
+a whole to be redistributed commercially. This means we can't add
+a GIF-generating program to GNU, not under the Unisys terms.
+</p>
-<P>
-The <A HREF="/fsf/fsf.html">Free Software Foundation</A> is a
+<p>
+The <a href="/fsf/fsf.html">Free Software Foundation</a> is a
non-commercial, non-profit organization, so strictly speaking the
-income from our sales of <A HREF="http://order.fsf.org/";>CD-ROMs</A> is
-not ``profit''. Perhaps this means we could include a GIF program on
-our CD-ROM and claim to be acting within the scope of the Unisys
-permission--or perhaps not. But since we know that other
-redistributors of GNU would be unable to include it, doing this would
-not be very useful.
+income from our sales of <a href="http://order.fsf.org/";>CD-ROMs</a>
+is not "profit". Perhaps this means we could include a GIF
+program on our CD-ROM and claim to be acting within the scope of
+the Unisys permission--or perhaps not. But since we know that
+other redistributors of GNU would be unable to include it, doing
+this would not be very useful.
+</p>
-<P>
+<p>
Shortly after Unisys made its announcement, when the net in general
was reassured thinking that Unisys had given permission for free
@@ -108,150 +111,225 @@
asking for clarification of these issues. We did not receive a
response.
+</p>
-<P>
+<p>
Even if Unisys really did give permission for free software to
-generate GIFs, we would still have to deal with the IBM patent. Both
-the IBM and the Unisys patents cover the same ``invention''--the LZW
-compression algorithm. (This could reflect an error on the part of
-the US Patent and Trademark Office, which is famous for incompetence
-and poor judgment.)
-
-<P>
-Decoding GIFs is a different issue. The Unisys and IBM patents are
-both written in such a way that they do not apply to a program which
-can only uncompress LZW format and cannot compress. Therefore we can
-and will include support for displaying GIF files in GNU software.
+generate GIFs, we would still have to deal with the IBM patent.
+Both the IBM and the Unisys patents cover the same "invention"--the
+LZW compression algorithm. (This could reflect an error on the
+part of the US Patent and Trademark Office, which is famous for
+incompetence and poor judgment.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Decoding GIFs is a different issue. The Unisys and IBM patents
+are both written in such a way that they do not apply to a program
+which can only uncompress LZW format and cannot compress. Therefore
+we can and will include support for displaying GIF files in GNU
+software.
+</p>
-<P>
+<p>
Given this situation, we could still include GIF files in our web
pages if we wanted to. Many other people would be happy to generate
-them for us, and we would not be sued for having GIF files on our server.
+them for us, and we would not be sued for having GIF files on our
+server.
+</p>
-<P>
-But we feel that if we can't distribute the software to enable people
-to generate GIF files properly, then we should not have other people
-run such software for us. Besides, if we can't provide software in
-GNU to generate GIF files, we have to recommend an alternative. We
-ourselves should use the alternative that we recommend.
+<p>
+But we feel that if we can't distribute the software to enable
+people to generate GIF files properly, then we should not have
+other people run such software for us. Besides, if we can't provide
+software in GNU to generate GIF files, we have to recommend an
+alternative. We ourselves should use the alternative that we
+recommend.
+</p>
-<P>
+<p>
In 1999, Unisys had the following to say about the issue of their
patent:
-<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE>
-<STRONG>
-Unisys has frequently been asked whether a Unisys license is required
-in order to use LZW software obtained by downloading from the
-Internet or from other sources. The answer is simple. In all cases, a
-written license agreement or statement signed by an authorized Unisys
-representative is required from Unisys for all use, sale or distribution
-of any software (including so-called "freeware") and/or hardware
-providing LZW conversion capability (for example, downloaded software)
-</STRONG>
-</BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>
-With this statement, Unisys is trying to take back what they said in 1995
-when they gave parts of the patent to the public. The legality of
-such a move is questionable.
+</p>
-<P>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+<strong>Unisys has frequently been asked whether a Unisys license
+is required in order to use LZW software obtained by downloading
+from the Internet or from other sources. The answer is simple. In
+all cases, a written license agreement or statement signed by an
+authorized Unisys representative is required from Unisys for all
+use, sale or distribution of any software (including so-called
+"freeware") and/or hardware providing LZW conversion capability
+(for example, downloaded software). </strong>
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+With this statement, Unisys is trying to take back what they said
+in 1995 when they gave parts of the patent to the public. The
+legality of such a move is questionable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
A further issue is that the LZW patents--and software patents in
general--are an offense against the freedom of programmers generally,
and all programmers need to work together against software patents.
+</p>
-<P>
+<p>
So even if we could find a solution to enable the free software
-community to generate GIFs, that isn't really a solution, not for the
-problem as a whole. The solution is switching to another format and
-not using GIF any more.
+community to generate GIFs, that isn't really a solution, not for
+the problem as a whole. The solution is switching to another format
+and not using GIF any more.
+</p>
-<P>
+<p>
Therefore, we don't use GIF, and we hope you won't use it either.
+</p>
-<P>
-It is possible to make non-compressed images that act like GIFs, in
-that they work with programs that decode GIF format. This can be done
-without infringing patents. These pseudo-GIFs are useful for some
-purposes.
-
-<P>
-It is also possible to create GIFs using a patent-free run length encoding
-but this doesn't achieve the compression that one normally expects in a
-GIF.
-
-<P>
-We decided not to use these pseudo-GIFs on our web site
-because they are not a satisfactory solution to the community's
-problem. They work, but they are very large. What the web needs is a
+<p>
+It is possible to make non-compressed images that act like GIFs,
+in that they work with programs that decode GIF format. This can
+be done without infringing patents. These pseudo-GIFs are useful
+for some purposes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is also possible to create GIFs using a patent-free run length
+encoding but this doesn't achieve the compression that one normally
+expects in a GIF.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We decided not to use these pseudo-GIFs on our web site because
+they are not a satisfactory solution to the community's problem.
+They work, but they are very large. What the web needs is a
patent-free compressed format, not large pseudo-GIFs.
+</p>
-<P> <a href="http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/index.html";>PNG format</a> is a
-patent-free compressed format. We hope it will become widely
+<p>
+<a href="http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/index.html";>PNG format</a>
+is a patent-free compressed format. We hope it will become widely
supported; then we will use it. We do have
-<A HREF="/graphics/graphics.html">PNG versions</A> of the images on this
-server.
+<a href="/graphics/graphics.html">PNG versions</a> of the images
+on this server.
+</p>
-<P>
+<p>
For more information about the GIF patent problems, see
+<a href="http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/Gif/Gif.html";>the League
+for Programming Freedom GIF page</a>. Through that page you can
+find more information about the problem of software patents in
+general.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/pngapbr.html";>The browser
+support page</a> lists browsers which are compatible with the PNG
+format and comments on how well they support it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There's a library called
+<a href="http://prtr-13.ucsc.edu/~badger/software/libungif/index.shtml";>
+libungif</a> that reads gif files and writes uncompressed gifs to
+circumvent the Unisys patent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="http://burnallgifs.org";>http://burnallgifs.org</a> is a
+website devoted to discouraging the use of GIF files on your website.
+</p>
-<A HREF="http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/Gif/Gif.html";>the League for
-Programming Freedom GIF page</A>. Through that page you can find more
-information about the problem of software patents in general.
-
-<P>
-
-<A HREF="http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/pngapbr.html";>The
-browser support page</A> lists browsers which are compatible with
-the PNG format and comments on how well they support it.
-<P>
-
-There's a library called <A
-HREF="http://prtr-13.ucsc.edu/~badger/software/libungif/index.shtml";>libungif</A>
-that reads gif files and writes uncompressed gifs to circumvent the
-Unisys patent.
-<P>
-<a href="http://burnallgifs.org";>http://burnallgifs.org</a> is a website
devoted to discouraging the use of GIF files on your website.
-<HR>
-
+<hr />
Footnote:
-<br>
-<a href="#returnnote" name="venuenote">1.</a> We were able to search the
- patent databases of the USA, Canada, Japan, and the European Union.
- The Unisys patent expired on 20 June 2003 in the USA, but it does not
- expire in most of Europe until 18 June 2004, in Japan until 20 June
- 2004 and in Canada until 7 July 2004. We are still searching these
- databases for the IBM patent.
-<hr>
-
-<H4><A HREF="/philosophy/philosophy.html">Other Texts to Read</A></H4>
-
-<HR>
-
-Return to <A HREF="/home.html">GNU's home page</A>.
-<P>
-
-Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to
-
-<A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";><EM>address@hidden</EM></A>.
-There are also <A HREF="/home.html#ContactInfo">other ways to
-contact</A> the FSF.
-<P>
-
-Please send comments on these web pages to
-
-<A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";><EM>address@hidden</EM></A>,
-send other questions to
-<A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";><EM>address@hidden</EM></A>.
-<P>
-Copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
-59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
-<P>
+<br />
+<a href="#returnnote" id="venuenote">1.</a> We were able to search
+the patent databases of the USA, Canada, Japan, and the European
+Union. The Unisys patent expired on 20 June 2003 in the USA, but
+it does not expire in most of Europe until 18 June 2004, in Japan
+until 20 June 2004 and in Canada until 7 July 2004. The U.S. IBM
+patent expires 11 August 2006, (we are still searching the
+databases of other countries).
+<hr />
+
+<h4><a href="/philosophy/philosophy.html">Other Texts to Read</a></h4>
+
+<!-- All pages on the GNU web server should have the section about -->
+<!-- verbatim copying. Please do NOT remove this without talking -->
+<!-- with the webmasters first. -->
+<!-- Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the document -->
+<!-- and that it is like this "2001, 2002" not this "2001-2002." -->
+
+<p style="font-size: 10pt;">
+<a id="translations"></a>
+<b>Translations of this page</b>:<br />
+
+<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical, and in the original -->
+<!-- language if possible, otherwise default to English -->
+<!-- If you do not have it English, please comment what the -->
+<!-- English is. If you add a new language here, please -->
+<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
+<!-- - in /home/www/bin/nightly-vars either TAGSLANG or WEBLANG -->
+<!-- - in /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
+<!-- one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
+<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
+<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
+<!-- Please also check you have the 2 letter language code right versus -->
+<!-- http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm -->
+
+[
+ <a href="/philosophy/gif.html">English</a>
+| <a href="/philosophy/gif.de.html">Deutsch</a> <!-- German -->
+| <a href="/philosophy/gif.fr.html">Français</a> <!-- French -->
+
+<!-- Japanese -->
+| <a href="/philosophy/gif.ja.html">日本語</a>
+
+| <a href="/philosophy/gif.ko.html">한국어</a><!-- Korean -->
+| <a href="/philosophy/gif.pl.html">Polski</a> <!-- Polish -->
+
+<!-- Russian/Russkij -->
+| <a
href="/philosophy/gif.ru.html">Русский</a>
+]
+
+<div class="copyright">
+<p>
+Return to the <a href="/home.html">GNU Project home page</a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
+There are also <a href="/home.html#ContactInfo">other ways to contact</a>
+the FSF.
+<br />
+Please send broken links and other corrections (or suggestions) to
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Please see the
+<a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting
+translations of this article.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
+<br />
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
-permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.<P>
+permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is
+preserved.
+</p>
+
+<p>
Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2003/06/29 22:35:05 $ $Author: brett $
+$Date: 2004/02/09 18:12:09 $ $Author: sinuhe $
<!-- timestamp end -->
-<HR>
-</BODY>
-</HTML>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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- [gnu-pl] wwwgnudiff - raport nr 229,
Wojciech Kotwica <=