Differences between version 2 and predecessor to the previous major change of Unisys.
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| Newer page: | version 2 | Last edited on Friday, December 19, 2003 12:10:02 am | by AristotlePagaltzis | Revert |
| Older page: | version 1 | Last edited on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 10:34:47 am | by JohnMcPherson | Revert |
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
-A large company that doesn't
seem to do much
:)
+A large, once respected IT consulting
company who nowadays
seem to dwindle into irrelevance. Apparently they mostly recommend MicrosoftWindows solutions. They earned a huge notoriety with the computing world with their [Submarine Patent | http
://www.unisys.com/about__unisys/lzw/] on [LZW] compression. __This patent is no longer an issue - it expired on Fri, Jun 20 2003.__
-"A friend" used to work there, and they mainly do IT consulting, invariably recommending windows NT solutions
. I think they are becoming increasingly irrelevant, which is why they started resorting to squeezing money out of the world from their bogus [GIF] patent
.
+!! The story goes thus
..
-Part
of [CategoryCompany
]
+In 1984, Terry Welch, working at [Unisys], extended the LZ78 algorithm with a few simple ideas to make it simpler and more efficient. Following standard procedures, a patent was filed on this new algorithm dubbed [LZW]. However, it wasn't
of any use to
[Unisys
]' core business, so they didn't have much interest in it and assured anyone who asked that they allowed free use of the algorithm. Fatally, none of this was ever formally put in contract. When CompuServe, a once large online service, were looking to make moving images across the typical 14k4 [MoDem]s of those days easier, they decided to use this simple, elegant, and efficient algorithm in a new FileFormat for images which they dubbed [GIF]. The format gained popularity quickly and became the defacto standard for publishing images online. Years later, [Unisys] woke up to the fact that not only were a lot of people now using [LZW], but that they were now actually dependent on it, as every other image on the web and then some were in [GIF] format. They realized that their patent on this [Algorithm], being unavoidable as it had become, could make them a substantial amount of money from license fees. At this point, they decided to assert their ownership and cash in on the patent.
+
+Their hypocrisy led to the creation of the [PNG] FileFormat to fill the niche [GIF] traditionally held. It also offers a lot of new capabilities. Most websites now prefer [PNG] over [GIF] files. However they have made a lasting impression on the computing world that goes far beyond image formats. People have become very careful to examine whether anything proposed as a new standard is covered by existing patents. OggVorbis is an example of another format that was designed specifically to avoid patented algorithms.
+
+----
+Part of CategoryCompany
