Re: [APML] Jpeg standards

[Philip Perkins <philip@astrocruise.com>]

Joe,

This was a very interesting post.  I didn't know that this was going on - 
to be expected I suppose in a "terminally litigious society".  I can't 
imagine for one moment that this will get anywhere - especially when the 
main ingredient for success in litigation is the size of the cheque book 
rather than the merit of the cause.  There are far too many heavyweights 
with a vested interest in JPEG.  One of the first things a judge may ask is 
why this small Texas outfit didn't pursue their claim 17 years ago:  "They 
were apparently happy for these past 17 years so what's their problem now?".

As far as I know there is no alternative to JPEG either.  GIF is something 
else altogether - it achieves smaller file sizes through a much reduced 
colour space (only 256 colours) and is thus unsuitable for photographic 
quality (although it is very suitable for general graphics).  JPEG 
preserves full photographic quality but is lossy and thus only suitable for 
images that will be saved once as JPEG.  Given that, it is enormously 
impressive and I have seen file sizes reduce by as much as 80% while the 
result remains completely undetectable (visually) from the original.
--Philip


At 08:28 24/07/02 -0400, you wrote:

>         Maybe a bit off topic, but interesting rticle as we all use Jpeg 
> (amoung other file formats):
>http://www.theregus.com/content/4/25711.html
>
>         In short, for those of you not wanting to read the article, a 
> company in Texas  that  says they now hold the patent on Jpeg image 
> ompression is now launching lawsuits claiming royaltiy rights on anyone 
> using Jpegs.  Therefore, the ISO is planning on dumping the Jpeg as a 
> 'standard."
>
>         I have been following this story for a couple months now, but it 
> does not seem to be going away, indeed, there's a bit of steam picking up 
> on it.  To me, one of the darker sides of the digital revolution is all 
> new file compression formats are being patented, so it is becomming 
> harder and harder to come out with universal standards in any new file 
> format.  At the rate things are going, we'll be uing Tiff and Gif for the 
> next couple centuries.  :)
>
>joe


Philip Perkins - philip@astrocruise.com
Wiltshire UK & Luberon France
Astrocruise - http://www.astrocruise.com


--  APML Archives at <http://astro.umsystem.edu/apml/>  ---
             Unsubscribe at <majordomo@seds.org>