Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcrware!jejones
From: jejones@mcrware.UUCP (James Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy
Subject: Re: Gif Viewers
Message-ID: <618@mcrware.UUCP>
Date: 23 Mar 88 20:46:42 GMT
References: <2145@ukecc.engr.uky.edu>
Organization: Microware Systems Corp., Des Moines, Ia.
Lines: 25
Keywords: Coco
Summary: it's not 6809 assembly, but...

In article <2145@ukecc.engr.uky.edu>, greg@engr.uky.edu (Greg Henderson) writes:
> Does anyone have a viewer for Gif pictures.
> Preferably for the Coco III...

A uuencoded ARC file for a GIF viewer written in Pascal was posted to one of
the IBMoid groups recently.  It's for EGA hardware, whatever that is, but the
basic principles should be there.  Aside from that, I don't know whether or
when any GIF source code will appear, because CIS requires that, to become
an official GIF developer, you have to sign a form that says you will not
release any source code.  CIS claims that they are doing this so that programs
claiming to do GIF but not meeting their standards won't appear.

>>BEGIN PURELY PERSONAL OPINION<<
This policy conflicts with their other stated desire (i.e. that GIF become
a widespread standard for encoding graphics images), and I find it short-
sighted, to say the least.  I wish they'd considered the history of Kermit
and the way in which Donald Knuth is protecting the name TeX.
>>END PURELY PERSONAL OPINION<<

I had an exchange or two with CIS folks on the PICS forum, and they said
that one could write a GIF program purely from their documentation of the
standard and release source.  (Not being up on legal issues, I don't know
whether there's anything they *could* do in that case.)

		James Jones