Free from patent impediments at last, the GD graphics library once again supports GIF images. I doubt that Unisys's LZW patents promoted innovation -- unless you count innovation in competing graphics formats such as PNG to work around the patent.

From the GD Library FAQ:

Does gd support GIF images?
Yes. Support for GIF was restored in gd 2.0.28 on July 21st, 2004.

I used GD and GDchart in one of my first web applications. Maybe now I'll finally update that Amazon book-rank tracker. Funny, 1984 has been high on the charts for a while.