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Subject:RE: Anyone still using GIFs ? From:"Higgins, Lisa" <LHiggins -at- carrieraccess -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 3 Nov 1999 08:26:20 -0700
> I think this is a non-issue, since almost all of the tools we use
> (Microsoft, Paint Shop Pro, etc.) paid the original licensing
> fee in order
> to create their filters, etc. It's not for us users to worry
> about.
Actually, it is. What it boils down to is that, if you have a single GIF
file on your website that you did not develop yourself--this could be
something as simple as a little navigational arrow you got from a clipart
CD-ROM or website--you are responsible. Unisys' solution to this problem is
that you pay them a 'small' one-time licensing fee of $5000 just to cover
yourself in case your little arrow was created with unlicensed software.
This 'small' licensing fee is only available for websites with no passwords,
no memberships, no advertising (including banner ads), and no ordering
capabilities. In other words, if you have a webpage for your dog that runs
banner ads--say, for a webring of webpages for dogs--you have to negotiate
with Unisys for a commercial license.
To relate this more directly to our jobs, if you have a password-protected
website for your customers to look at your documentation, or if you have any
commercial traffic on your corporate website, you have to negotiate a
contract with Unisys if you are going to use even one GIF that you don't
have firsthand knowledge of its origins.
Or... you could burn all your GIFs. PNG is a better format, anyway.
