Why did they get rid of GIF support?!

[SuperMikeyZ]

Hey, have any of you noticed how Microsoft got rid of the GIF viewer back some time back? Why would they do that?! And is there any patch or something to bring it back? I kinda miss it. I'm not talking about just a viewer, but full support, like how you could use them for wallpapers and stuff. Why would they trash something like that?! If you ask me, in an upgrade, you should have EVERYTHING upgraded, no features left behind!

 

[Skylais]

You can only open them in a web browser, but i am sure there is some kind of really small tool to open gifs with, using the opening program as the default program. Try this link friend
http://www.sevenforums.com/music-pictures-video/97830-windows-7-gif-viewer-works-perfectly.html

[COLOR="Red"]Q: Why don't my animated GIF files animate in the Windows Vista Photo Gallery?[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Gray"]The Photo Gallery is designed for management of photos. 
The GIF format is not widely used for photos,
 but we included limited support for it due to 
the fact that some users have photos in this format.
 However, we did not implement the animation feature. 
You can use Internet Explorer to view your animated GIF files[/COLOR]."

 

[SuperMikeyZ]

That's a nice app. Still miss the Wallpaper GIF thing though. That was pretty cool.

 

[LMiller7]

The GIF format was once quite popular but has been largely replaced by PNG. The problem was that the GIF technology was proprietary and owned by Unisys. Around the turn of the century, Unisys, recognizing that the patent would soon expire, started to threaten legal action against companies using the technology without paying a rather substantial license fee. It was largely due to this that the PNG format was developed. Most companies simply abandoned GIF and switched to PNG. The patent on GIF technology expired years ago but that damage was done.

 

[SuperMikeyZ]

Can PNG animate?

 

[mitchell65]

Can PNG animate?

Yes
Google Image Result for http://www.bradfordsherrill.com/images/animated.png