Here's the deal on GIF support in Fastgraph.

We have supported both the creation and display of GIF files in
Fastgraph since May of 1993. We supported this file format, in
part, because we relied on the promise by CompuServe that the
file format is royalty free. CompuServe claims the copyright
on the GIF file format, and they said we could all use it, as
long as we mentioned GIF in the documentation, which we did.

What CompuServe neglected to tell us is, Unisys claims a patent
on the LZW compression algorithm, which is a cornerstone of the
GIF format. Now Unisys wants royalties on GIF files. These royalties
will not be collected from users, but from developers of programs
that encode or decode GIF files. In other words, if you use GIF
files in your programs, you will owe a royalty to Unisys.

CompuServe has apparently known about this for at least two years,
but they only bothered to tell us about it 3 weeks ago.

There is some effort in the CompuServe GRAPHSUP forum to both save the
GIF file format, and to devise a new file format. The GRAPHSUP forum
is part of the "Go Graphics Group", a CompuServe contractor group
that apparently makes a nice profit from the continuous download of
girly GIFs.

The Go Graphics Group is the originator of the GIF file spec, and
they have set aside a special section (section 19) for discussion
of the Unisys royalty issue. I have stated plainly my displeasure
with their handling of this matter in that section. I have also
offered some opinions on that girly GIF thing.

It appears that we will have no choice but to remove GIF support
from Fastgraph. We have always promised our customers a royalty
free product, and we can not in good conscience support a file
format on which a royalty is required. If a new file format arises
to replace GIF, we will support it in Fastgraph, and make that
support available to our customers in a free downloadable patch
file.

Fastgraph customers who currently have applications that depend
on GIF support should contact our office if you have questions about
continued support. We will do everything we can to help you, including
supplying you with the GIF code that will be removed from Fastgraph.

If you have a commercial application that reads or writes GIF files,
Unisys probably expects you to contact them about paying a royalty.
If there is any possibility of replacing GIF with PCX or other file
format, I suggest you do it.

We deeply regret the inconvenience this is going to cause our
customers. If you have questions or comments about the way this
has been handled, I suggest you log onto CompuServe, "GO GRAPHSUP"
and let your opinions be heard.

 Diana Gruber
 Senior Programmer
 Ted Gruber Software