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Re:The PNG image file format is now more popular than GIF by ChuckMcM on Thursday January 31, 2013 @11:32AM (#5145756)
And this particular circle is complete.

Of course the patents that were the heart of such controversy are now expired so GIF code is no longer 'not-open' but it has a bad reputation so we don't play with it any more :-).

I like PNG though, the library development, while a bit rocky at first, matured quite nicely and about 5 years ago crossed the point where enough people took the time to figure out how to use it that is dropped into everything that dealt with images. That has been pretty handy.

Re:The PNG image file format is now more popular than GIF by eli on Thursday January 31, 2013 @12:35PM (#5146096)
Yup, great point. I think if there weren't patent concerns over GIF years ago, there wouldn't have been nearly as wide support for the format, which means far fewer people would be using it today.
Re:The PNG image file format is now more popular than GIF by ben0x539 on Thursday January 31, 2013 @01:13PM (#5146343)
Sounds like there's need for a startup that fakes patents for obsolete file formats to create pressure for the industry to switch to technically superior alternatives. Who wants to fund me?
Re:The PNG image file format is now more popular than GIF by ChuckMcM on Thursday January 31, 2013 @02:11PM (#5146721)
You should patent that idea.