Re: [newbie] Netscape and .png

[StormeRider]

At 07:44 AM 5/24/00 +0200, Paul wrote:
>On Tue, 23 May 2000, Lance Borden wrote:
>
> >Hey y'all,
> >
> >When I'm using Netscape and come across a .png image, I get a stupid error
> >message that the file type is unsupported or unknown. Anybody know what 
> I need
> >to do to get Netscape recognizing these? Thanks!
>
>Which version of Netscape is this? I have never encountered a PNG file on
>the web. The only officially supported formats, as agreed on by the whole
>world (perhaps except Micro$oft) are GIF and JPG.
>If those 2 work, Netscape is fine. Then blame the maker of the webpage.

Strangely enough, Microsoft has been very supportive of the PNG file format.
I believe it was included with MSIE 4.

PNG, for those who don't know, was a very tight file format for graphic 
data that
a lot of people use due to the even-worse-than-Microsoft tactics of the company
called Unisys, who maintain a strangehold on the GIF patent with LZW 
compression
(and GIF without the compression is rather _useless_ for web work).

A lot of Open Source people are supporting PNG as an alternative to GIF. 
Paul, I
find this very disheartening to hear you say "blame the maker of the webpage"
when many people generate images on the fly using programs such as GD by
Boutell, either via Perl or PHP, two of the largest and most widely used 
web scripting
languages extant, both of which are also Open Source. GD _used_ to support
GIF with LZW, but due to Unisys had to cease and desist from doing so. Boutell
instead went on to support PNG as he would not just drop his program because
they wouldn't let him use the protocol that they own the patent on to 
enable others
to freely make graphics. Read about the PNG vs. GIF debate. If you don't know
what's going on here, find out. Support the underdog-- or why have you been 
using
Linux (though I recognize the fact that Linux is by far rapidly catching 
up, it is still
behind in several areas, though we all know that this is being remedied 
faster than
the other companies are coming out with new technology).

Support the community, don't blame those who want to use something that is
_almost_ universally supported at this point.


>Paul
>
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>
>No matter how much you do, you'll never do enough.
>
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