The Haus

Monday, August 9, 1999

LZW, GIFs, and Unisys -- 10:01 am CST, Update by The Master

I'm not sure how many people out there know about this, but Unisys is the patent owner of the LZW compression algorithm. This means that ANYONE who uses LZW must buy that privelege from Unisys. At anywhere from $7,500 to $10,000 a SERVER. DO YOU HEAR ME?!? A SERVER!!! Good GOD. The compressed .gif format, .tif, Postscript level 2, and several other formats (including Microsoft's .cab and other compression formats) use LZW. Now I know how Unisys has managed to survive their fall from the big-iron market. They charge the web community for use of the .gif compression scheme. I'm just slightly irritated with Unisucks right now...

News for 08/09/1999

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