On Sun, Jun 15, 2003 at 10:41:24PM -0700, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote: > Richard Braakman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > On Sun, Jun 15, 2003 at 05:15:14PM -0400, Sam Hartman wrote: > > > Why? What real-world problem does this solve? Have we actually run > > > into situations where it was not obvious in a particular instance what > > > the preferred form for modifications was? > > > > I know of one thorny problem in this area: many graphics are distributed > > as .png or .jpg files, even though their creator probably used a richer > > format like .xcf. > > Is it not obvious that the preferred form is .xcf?
It is preferred, but does that make the other formats non-free? Often the .xcf is simply not available anymore, not even to the creator. The strength of the preference for it depends on the complexity of the image and on the exact format (lossy jpeg? blurred png? reduced palette?). It's an area where reasonable people might disagree. There are also variations in usefulness of a .xcf file. Does it have all the layers still separate, or have some of them been merged and smoothed? Combining those layers into the final image is often part of the creative process and is usually not automated. At least, not the way I do it :) Richard Braakman
