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500 MB Nyheder Direkte fra Internet 2
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500 MB nyheder direkte fra internet CD 2.iso
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1995-05-01
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7KB
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135 lines
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PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
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Graphics Community Endorses a New File Format
May 1, 1995. A coalition of major software developers, publishers and
technical writers announced today its endorsement for the new PNG
graphics format. PNG (Portable Network Graphics, pronounced "ping")
is a flexible and open format for storing bitmapped graphics images.
This effort began in late 1994, when CompuServe and Unisys stunned
the online world by announcing that royalties would be required on
the formerly freely used GIF file format.
Several companies claim a patent on the LZW compression algorithm,
which is an integral part of the GIF file format. Unisys is now
requiring developers, publishers, and vendors to pay royalties on any
software that either creates or displays GIF files. In response to
this announcement, developers hastened to replace the GIF file format
with an improved royalty-free format. A coalition of experienced
independent graphics developers from the Internet and CompuServe
formed a working group and proceeded to design the new format. The
result is the PNG format.
PNG is a major advance over the venerable GIF format. By adopting
PNG, you would not only be helping the computer graphics community
free itself from the Unisys patent, but you would be enjoying the
advantages of a powerful new graphics file format. Converting your
GIF collections to PNG offers the following benefits:
* PNG retains GIF's strength as a simple and portable graphics format.
* PNG's compression method has been thoroughly researched and judged
free from patent problems.
* PNG allows support for true color and alpha channel storage. Its
extensible structure leaves room for future requirements.
* PNG's feature set allows conversion of all GIF files.
* On average, PNG files are smaller than GIF files.
* PNG offers a new, more visually appealing, method for progressive
display than the scanline interlacing used by GIF.
* PNG is designed to support full file integrity checking as
well as simple, quick detection of common transmission errors.
* Implementations of PNG are royalty-free.
The advantages of making PNG an industry-standard file format are
clear. We are now presented with a rare opportunity to move forward
in the area of royalty-free graphics display and archiving software.
Please help with the adoption of PNG by supporting it as your
preferred graphics file format. For more information, source code,
file specifications, developer tools, and freeware file converters,
you can contact the comp.graphics Internet newsgroups or the Graphics
Support Forum on CompuServe (GO GRAPHSUP). For files, check the
ftp.uu.net:/graphics/png directory, or email png-info@uunet.uu.net.
Thank you for supporting this project.
Signed by:
Michael Abrash, author, Zen of Graphics Programming
Michael Console Battilana, Cloanto (Personal Paint/Write, etc.)
Bradley Bell & Elizabeth Piegari, TriSoft (Depth Dwellers)
Andrei Belogortseff, ChaoSoft (FM StepUp, FM Toolbar, FM Guard, etc.)
C. Steven Blackwood, Cytherean Adventures (Cargo Bay)
Robert K. Blaine, ECONO-SOFT
John Bradley, author of XV
John Bridges, author of GRASP, PC Paint and PICEM
Rick Byrnes, The Software Development Group (NoteWorthy, MoneyWise,
Eventz, and various shareware products.)
Tony Caine, ARCaine Technology
George Campbell, OsoSoft (Winclip, etc.)
Mike Ceranski, President, Dvorak Development
Lee Crocker (Piclab, PGIF, GTools)
Karen Crowther, Redwood Games (Math Rescue, Word Rescue, Pickle Wars)
E. Nicholas Cupery, Farba Research (Farba Utilities (tm))
Thomas Boutell, author of the gd library and the World Wide Web FAQ
Gary Elfring, Elfring Soft Fonts (Clip Art)
Steve Estvanik, Cascoly Software (Winzle, Windows in Time, MVP Bridge)
Jim Faliveno, Monumental Computer Applications, Inc. (TagVue-CaddView)
Dan Farmer, POV-Team (POV-Ray)
Oliver Fromme, TBH-Softworx (QPEG, PicDex)
John Gallant, First Magnitude (3-Ball Juggler, Beat the Bomb, Math
Sampler)
Lawrence Gozum, author (VIDVUE)
Phil Grenetz, Ivden Technologies
Diana Gruber, Ted Gruber Software, Inc. (Fastgraph)
David Hofmann (Computer Graphics Artist, Germany)
Michael D. Jones, Insight Software Solutions (Finance/Hobbies/Word Games)
Lutz Kretzschmar, coauthor of Ray Tracing Worlds (Moray)
Tom Lane, organizer, Independent JPEG Group (IJG JPEG software)
Steve Lee (Atlantic Coast plc)
Ralph Mariano @ STReport International Online Magazine
David K. Mason, author of Morphing on Your PC, coauthor of Making Movies
on Your PC (DTA, DFV, DMorf)
Randy Maclean, Formgen Corp.
Brad McLane, Caladonia Systems Inc. (Code.Print, ToolThings)
Al Meadows/Fineware Systems (Author of Space Hound, Peeper, etc.)
Scott Miller, Apogee Software, Sultans of Shareware
Jeff Napier, Another Company (Computer Magic)
Peter Nielsen, Raja Thiagarajan, Julie England (PMView & PMSnap for OS/2)
David Noakes, Fugue Software
Dick Oliver, author of PC graphics books and software including
Tricks of the Graphics Gurus, PC Graphics Unleashed, and FractalVision
Dan Richardson, illustrator, author of Create Stereograms on Your PC
John Richardson, Rogue Marketing (Amazing Secrets Series, Gambling
Secrets, JobDisk)
Steve Rimmer, Alchemy Mindworks Inc. (Graphic Workshop, etc.)
Greg Roelofs, Info-ZIP (Zip, UnZip and related utilities)
Guy Eric Schalnat, Group 42 (PNGLIB, GraphX Viewer)
Paul Schmidt, Photodex Corporation, GDS (The Graphics Display System)
Monty Shelton, CrystalWorks (EZCosmos, SIRDS for NIRDS, Language Wiz)
Steve Sneed, Ozarks West Software, Inc. (OzCIS, OzWin, OZBEXT/OZGIF)
David Snyder, MVP Software (MVP Paint)
Chuck Steenburgh, Tay-Jee Software (Palantir for DOS & Windows, S.O.S.)
Peter Tiemann (author of TrueBase)
Glen Tippetts, NeoSoft Corporation (NeoPaint, NeoBook, etc.)
Rod Underhill, Computer Fine Artist (CIS Comic Forum's Underhill Gallery)
John Wagner (Improces)
Bruce F. Webster, Pages Software Inc (WebPages by Pages)
Tim Wegner, author of Image Lab and Fractal Creations (Fractint)
Rosemary West, R. K. West Consulting (By The Numbers, LoveDOS, etc.)
Thomas R. White, Recreational Engineering Associates (MultiMedia Swiss
Army Knife)
Charles L. Wiedemann, Rexxcom Systems (XL2001, E-Z-Book, etc.)
Terry Wilkinson, CIO, AffNet Publishing
Ben Williams, Black Belt Systems Inc. (WinImages, Imagemaster, etc.)
Jeff Woods, deltaComm Development, Inc. (Telix for Windows)