Re: IDL 5.4 and gifs

["Richard G. French" <rfrench(at)wellesley.edu>]

Here is the authoritative answer from the IDL Product Manager at RSINC.
(It appears to me that the best short-term solution is for some clever
soul with time on their hands to come up with an interface to the
library of GIF routines in   http://www.imagemagick.org/
but that is more than I can tackle at the moment.) - Dick

> I sincerely apologize for your inconvenience in this matter.  We are
> currently legally unable to fulfill your request.  We are actively pursuing
> a resolution with Unisys for our users at this time. I can not give you a
> definite date for this resolution, but we will announce publicly when we are
> again able to offer this feature to our users and what the process will be
> to activate it.  
> 
> One detail I can confirm is that our agreement only covers our ability to
> offer GIF technology to our customers.  It is, unfortunately, the customer's
> obligation to obtain a license from Unisys themselves (this is out of our
> control).
> 
> If you happen to undertake this, or have already done so, I would appreciate
> learning from you what the process is like for the benefit of other users.
> Is it different for educational institutions, etc.?


David Fanning wrote:
> 
> Richard G. French (rfrench@wellesley.edu) writes:
> 
> > Just got David Fanning's 2d ed and on p. 150 he says
> > "you must have a ltter from the GIF file format patent
> > holder (Compuserve) granting you permission to create
> > GIF files . RSI will supply you with the proper license
> > for GIF file formation upon receipt...."
> 
> Well, that is what was in the works when I wrote
> that section of the book. But the last I heard
> nothing had been worked out with Compuserve. I'd
> be curious to know where things stand too. But
> I wouldn't be surprised to find that GIF files
> are history. :-(
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> David
> 
> --
> David Fanning, Ph.D.
> Fanning Software Consulting
> Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
> Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
> Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155


David Fanning wrote:
> 
> Richard G. French (rfrench@wellesley.edu) writes:
> 
> > Just got David Fanning's 2d ed and on p. 150 he says
> > "you must have a ltter from the GIF file format patent
> > holder (Compuserve) granting you permission to create
> > GIF files . RSI will supply you with the proper license
> > for GIF file formation upon receipt...."
> 
> Well, that is what was in the works when I wrote
> that section of the book. But the last I heard
> nothing had been worked out with Compuserve. I'd
> be curious to know where things stand too. But
> I wouldn't be surprised to find that GIF files
> are history. :-(
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> David
> 
> --
> David Fanning, Ph.D.
> Fanning Software Consulting
> Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
> Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
> Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155