I'm old enough to have written a gif decoder and for my effort receiced a threatening mail from Unisys, demanding protection money USD 10000 up front, which abs

I'm old enough to have written a gif decoder and for my effort receiced a threatening mail from Unisys, demanding protection money USD 10000 up front, which absurdity - after consultation with my national patent office - I laughed off and ignored. Back then I didn't imagine I would one day come to almost wish the Unishysters had in fact managed killing the damn format off for good.