| Re: IDL 5.5 jpeg and tiff [message #27528] |
Sun, 28 October 2001 14:28  |
newt
Messages: 4
Registered: August 2001
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Junior Member |
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"Steve Smith" wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Oct 2001 04:05:21 +0000 (UTC), Mark Hadfield
> <m.hadfield@niwa.cri.nz> wrote:
>> From: "Mark Chan" <markchan@shaw.ca>
>>> v5.5 comes with a form to request for JPEG and TIFF support.
>>
>> That's GIF and TIFF, isn't it? JPEG works fine OOTB.
>>
>>> Questions:
>>>
>>> 1) Has anyone find out how much the licensing costs?
>>
>> Not me. I imagine it would depend on what you were going to do with the
>> images. You have to negotiate with Unisys, not RSI, to get the license. I
>> should think that would be a royal pain.
>
> I emailed the email address at unisys for info on obtaining a license, I
> reveived a two page questionnaire asking me:
>
> LZW Licensing Questionnaire
>
> General information regarding licensing is available on our Website at
> http://www.unisys.com/unisys/lzw. In order to send you the proper license
> agreement, please provide us with the following information:
>
> 1)What form of LZW you will be using, (i.e., GIF, TIFF, PostScript-2, PDF or
> a proprietary form of LZW type)?
> 2)On what type of computer will the application be running? E.g., a PC, MAC,
> workstation, server or web server.
> 3)Describe the primary overall functions of the application(s) you are
> developing.
> 4)Will the software be a toolkit or other type of software intended for
> development purposes?
> 5)If you require a Unisys license in order to obtain unlocking of GIF or any
> other LZW capability in software you obtained from a software vendor (or other
> third party), please identify this vendor (or third party) and the particular
> software which needs to be unlocked (include software serial number).
> 6)Is the application(s) for your company or your client company's internal use?
> If so, please answer the following questions:
> How many computers will run the application?
> How many additional computers will have access to the application via a
> LAN or other network connection?
> Describe the company's business and how the application is used in that
> business.
> If the product is being developed for a specific client company, please
> identify the client company.
>
> 7)Is the application(s) related to the Internet?
> If so, please describe how the application is used, e.g., is it used for
> implementing an Intranet, or for electronic commerce, or for providing a
> subscription or free service, or as a billboard for advertising your company's
> products/information or another company's products/services.
>
> Will any paid advertisements appear on the site? Will anything be sold on the
> site?
>
> 8)Will the software be sold to end users such as OEMs, VAR's or consumers?
> If so, please answer the following questions:
> What types of customers will receive the software?
> Is it to be sold or distributed to others as part of a software application?
> If so, describe the application.
> Please list all countries of distribution, and method of distribution, e.g.,
> via the Internet or on a disk.
> Please also provide at least a general indication of your pricing and yearly
> volume.
>
> 9)Will the application be bundled with any hardware or other software?
> If so, please describe this bundled hardware and/or software.
>
> 10)Please provide the name, address, phone and fax numbers, and web site
> address for your company.
> Company Name:
> Primary Contact:
> Street Address:
> City/State/County/Zip:
> Phone:
> Fax:
> Web URL:
> Contact e-mail address:
>
> 11)Is your organization a governmental entity (e.g. federal, state or city
> government or agency thereof) or an educational institution (e.g., state or
> private university)?
> 12)Is your company a division or subsidiary of another company?
> If so, please identify the parent company.
>
> PLEASE DO NOT SEND US ANY INFORMATION WHICH IS CONFIDENTIAL OR PROPRIETARY TO
> YOUR COMPANY.
>
> I replied with the following:
>
> "Do you have a information about your license requirements/rates? Are they so
> complex that you must interview (via your questionnaire) license candidates
> before stating them? I am not a reseller of software. I found the
> questionnaire a bit ridiculous."
>
> A few hours later I received a phone call from a lawyer! A rather defensive one
> at that, who seemed to be screaming at me the whole time. His response was, and
> this is paraphrased: if you think it's ridiculous, then we can't help you. He
> did mention something about a $475 license which I _think_ is for joe blow
> user who doesn't want to sell anything which has anything to do with LZW, I'm
> sorry, but between all the screaming, I wasn't able to comfortably ask more
> specific questions. He did mention that the $475 was to cover things like the
> phone call I received. I guess the programmers were paid long ago, the license
> fees go to lawyers now :^) ! I guess you'll just have to submit the above
> information and find out what they'll charge, it may be nothing. My impression
> was to stay away from this company (I mean RUN away!), there has to be better
> alternatives.
>
>>
>>> 2) Is it worth it?
>
> Well, this is a judgement call, isn't it? I guess all these complications come
> from the history of LZW/GIF, which I don't really know. If LZW/GIF were stolen
> from Unisys, then I guess I can understand their wanting to seek fair
> retribution, which may be messy. In that case, I'd say it's worth it to see
> fairplay triumph. On the other hand, if that is not the case, then it seems
> there is something shady going on, and I would say it's certainly _not_ worth
> it and from the point of view of doing the right thing, my conscience would
> not permit me to aid and abet such behavior. I am therefore very interested in
> learning a little more about this issue and how it came about. I think to
> intelligently answer your subjective question, we'd have to consider this.
>
I found an interesting article about the history of the LZW issue, which I
thought may be
interesting to others:
http://www.cloanto.com/users/mcb/19950127giflzw.html
>
>>
>> I very much doubt it.
>>
>>> 3) Better alternative(s) for achieving the same?
>>
>> PNG for still images. It's widely supported these days and technically
>> superior to GIF.
>>
>> For animation there are several alternatives that have been discussed on
>> this group. I like FLC, though it's limited to 8-bit colour.
>>
>> ---
>> Mark Hadfield
>> m.hadfield@niwa.cri.nz http://katipo.niwa.cri.nz/~hadfield
>> National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Posted from clam.niwa.cri.nz [202.36.29.1]
>> via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG
>
> --
> Steve S.
>
> steve@NOSPAMmailaps.org
> remove NOSPAM before replying
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