On Thu, 21 Nov 2002 neuhausph...@aol.com wrote: <snip> > Tiff files and bitmaps are handled differently by > the 2 platforms and each type must be saved correctly for it's intended > use....a dialog box presents the MAC vs. PC option when the file is saved. > I'm a dedicated MAC user and I know you can open a PC tiff or bitmap on a MAC > but i don't think the PC is so user friendly.
The "incompatibility" between mac and pc tiff programs stems from the flexibility within the tiff format. The problem is with poorly written software rather than file incompatability. Some programs are written on the assumption that the PC is the only computer system in existence, these won't handle tiff's created on a Mac >From The Unofficial TIFF Home Page, http://home.earthlink.net/~ritter/tiff/#whatis : A common complaint of TIFF is rooted in its flexibility. For example the TIFF format permits both MSB ("Motorola") and LSB ("Intel") byte order data to be stored, with a header item indicating which order is used. There are old, poorly written TIFF programs on the PC which rebelled against this and assume that all TIFF files are Intel byte order. It is very easy to write a TIFF-writer, but very difficult to write a fully TIFF compliant reader. Gord --------------------------------------------------------- Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology hol...@duke.usask.ca 112 Science Place http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsg University of Saskatchewan Tel (306) 966-4433 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Fax (306) 966-4461 Canada S7N 5E2 ---------------------------------------------------------
