Perhaps a larger legacy than being a communications platform is that Compuserve is the reason we have GIF.
And fittingly, many of the graphics on that page are GIF. I presume Compuserve never had to worry about Unisys litigation.
And fittingly, many of the graphics on that page are GIF. I presume Compuserve never had to worry about Unisys litigation.
As a kid in the 80s on compuserve o still remember coming across that document explaining GIF, including the pronunciation
At that point I realized it was just a thing :)
Inventers don't get to change the language just because they invent something.
If you insist on pronouncing gif like graphics, you'd better be saying Juh-Pheg too.
That's simply not how acronyms work. Acronyms that form a pronounceable word typically coalesce into an agreed pronounciation that does not need to have anything in common with its components.
Take for example:
ANSI: neither "A" nor "I" is pronounced as their components.
CHAP: not sure how you'd murder this to fit a second "H" and the "A" isn't the same, either.
CIDR: "C" and "I" differ. I'd laugh at you if you tried to say "kidder"!
CMOS: I usually hear this as "see-mahs", but you do you.
LAN: different "A"
POP: this is not the "O" you're looking for.
POST: again laughing at anyone who says "pahst"