A mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, and a software engineer are in a car that had just stopped to a grinding halt.
The mechanical engineer says: “Maybe it’s a stuck valve?”.
The electrical engineer says: “Or maybe it’s a dead battery!?”.
The software engineer says: “I know. Let’s all get out and get back in again, and see if that fixes it”.
Unisys’ GIF-patents for Europe, for Canada and for Japan all expired this month (18th, 6th and 20th) (read here). IBM’s patent -that they will not likely use- still has two more years to go. So what will happen? Will we see any new GIF-development in the near future, or has GIF died since the GIF-tax was introduced? The PNG-alternative did not get the attention and usage it was hoping for: people just started using JPG more and more. If you create an application now that couldn’t understand GIF or PNG not much complaining would arise, but now create something that can’t read/create JPG… (Fujifilm’s EX Raw converter for instance!)
It’s a strange world we live in.