[Wikipedia-l] Burn all GIFs?

[Brion Vibber]

(For why GIFs are bad, see http://burnallgifs.org/ )

At present, when someone uploads a GIF image file to Wikipedia, they're
told it's "not a recommended format". This isn't likely to stop anyone
once they've got that far, so they'll probably just hit "Save anyway".
Plus, we've got a zillion GIF files already uploaded from the olden
days.

Would it be desireable to do automated conversion to PNG? Or at the
least, offering a conversion along with that upload warning.

Pros:
* By eliminating the use of a patent-encumbered file format on our site,
we support the open/free-content ideals this project is built on.

* Wikipedia and Bomis avoid the potential of a Unisys lawsuit for
'contributory infringement' of their LZW compression patent for
providing download of files that might be compressed with unlicensed
software.


Cons:
* Animated GIFs can't be converted cleanly (or is that a pro? ;) (Note
that there is MNG, but it's not widely supported)

* Some browsers don't support transparency in PNGs correctly. These are
older versions, but still in use.

* Conversion may hide/destroy embedded comments which note the origin of
a mistakenly uploaded copyrighted non-GFDL image, making it harder to
track down things we need to eliminate


Comments to http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_All_GIFs please.

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)
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