Mail Archives: djgpp/1997/03/16/08:42:07
Mark T Logan writes:
>know nothing about these formats except that GIF uses LZH, or whatever
>that algorithm is called. Same one as PKZIP uses. I suspect someone
>out there must have GIF reading code, and It would be a gracious gesture
>on their part to donate it to allegro.
The GIF format uses LZW compression, and that algorithm is patented by
Unisys. Since I want people to be able to use Allegro in commercial
programs without any licencing/royalty hassles, this means I'm unable to
include any GIF reading code. Stupid, I know, but complain to the idiot
who decided algorithms were patentable (did you know that IBM has a
patent on the idea of using xor mode to draw an object and then erase
it? Hmm... :-)
/*
* Shawn Hargreaves - shawn AT talula DOT demon DOT co DOT uk - http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/
* Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament.
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