me: > *the stab at TIF is over the the Adobe ® owned TIF file format which has > been re-engineered with greater compression in the latest incarnations of > PhotoShop® than before - it is no longer the lossless format people knew and > loved. Russ: > When did this change? > > I just up graded to PS 7. > > But I still have PS 5.5. http://bermangraphics.com/press/photoshop7.htm "The TIFF format has been seriously degraded.Adobe owns it, so they can do whatever they like with it, which is unfortunate because so many of us depend on its stability to make a living. Some years ago, the spec was amended to permit, among other things, layered TIFFs or those saved with JPEG or ZIP compression. A layered TIFF, unlike a layered PSD, *must* carry a composite version. Most but not all applications can *place* a layered TIFF, but whether they can image it is unknown. Layered TIFFs can be large. At the very least, they'll clog networks and strain RIPs. As for JPEGged or ZIPped TIFFs, AFAIK only Adobe products can even place them. In Photoshop 6, users were given the opportunity to access these dubious features but had to check off a preference to do so. By default only a standard TIFF could be saved. A few people did decide they needed the features but by and large the world said no, quite logically in my view. Notwithstanding the clear lack of interest in the market, Adobe has decided to make these changes *mandatory* in Photoshop 7, even if you are one of the 99% of users who *never* want to save a TIFF with layers or with one of these exotic compressions. They'll be in your face every time you save. And, naturally, thousands of less sophisticated users, who don't know the difference between JPEG and JPEGged TIFF, will be saving them by mistake, let alone saving enormous files because they don't understand why smaller TIFFs are a good idea or don't notice the tiny box in the save dialog box that "alerts" them that they're saving layers. "
