[gnu-pl] wwwgnudiff - raport nr 229
Wojciech Kotwica <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.os.hurd.web.translators.polish |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
--- 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:[email protected]"> -</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="[email protected]" /> +</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:[email protected]"><EM>[email protected]</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:[email protected]"><EM>[email protected]</EM></A>, -send other questions to -<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]"><EM>[email protected]</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. 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