          Easy Graphics File Converter, Version 3.00
             Copyright 2003-2004 Hermetic Systems
             ====================================

1.  License terms
-----------------

This "Easy Graphics File Converter" software (hereinafter 
"the Software") may be downloaded from the Hermetic Systems 
website at http://www.hermetic.ch/.  It may not be distributed 
further by any means without the prior permission of the 
copyright holder.

No modification of any sort, sale, disassembly or distribution 
by any means (including making available over a network) of 
the Software is permitted.  Any rights not specifically herein 
granted by Hermetic Systems ("the Licensor") are reserved.

A single-user license or a site license for the use of the 
Software may be obtained by visiting the web page at
http://www.hermetic.ch/ordering.htm and following the links 
to the Kagi order page or the Paypal order page.

A single-user license granted by the Licensor for the Software 
provides the person or company purchasing the license 
("the Licensee") with the non-exclusive and non-transferable 
right to install the Software on up to three PCs at one time, 
for use by at most one person at one time, and to use it for 
its intended purpose.

A site license provides the Licensee with the non-exclusive and 
non-transferable right to install the Software on as many PCs 
at one site as stated in the site license purchase invoice 
(the 'Thanks for your purchase' message), which installed copies 
may be used on-site by any employees of the Licensee.  For information 
about site licenses see http://www.hermetic.ch/site_licenses.htm.

2.  Documentation 
-----------------

Full documentation for the Software is available online at  
http://www.hermetic.ch/egfc/egfc.htm.

3.  Installation of the Software
--------------------------------

After downloading the package of files from the web (as a ZIP file
or a self-extracting archive) four files may be extracted, one of 
which is SETUP.EXE.

To install the Software close all programs and run the SETUP.EXE program 
(at a command prompt or by double-clicking on the program icon) and 
follow the prompts.  After installation you can run the program by 
selecting Start | Programs | Easy Graphics File Converter.

To reinstall the software, or to install a later version, please
see Section 6 below.

4.  Trial Period
----------------

After installation this software will run in fully-functional mode
for 10 days or 20 runs, whichever comes first.  Thereafter (unless 
activated) it will run in demo mode, in which only files of not more
than 4K can be converted. 

5.  Activation of the Software
------------------------------

To activate the Software (to make it permanently fully-functional) 
you need to enter an activation key (once only).  This is supplied 
after a user license has been purchased.  The activation key is 
specific to the machine on which the Software is installed.  If the
Software is to be installed on more than one PC then a separate 
activation key must be obtained for each installation.

When you first run the Software an 'Enter activation key' window
will open.  This contains instructions as to how to obtain an
activation key, namely:

First direct your browser to the web page at 
http://www.hermetic.ch/actkey.htm and enter the following information:
(i) the email address you used when purchasing your user license
(or, for a site license, the email address that the purchaser used),
(ii) the invoice number (if the license was purchased via Kagi)
from the 'Thanks for your purchase' message (not required if 
the license was purchased within the last three days) and
(iii) the machine signature as displayed in the 'Enter activation key'
window.
After you click on 'Submit info' the information will be sent
to Hermetic Systems.
    
Soon after receipt of this information Hermetic Systems will send 
the activation key to you at the email address you have requested 
it be sent to.  You should copy the activation key from the email message 
to the clipboard then paste it into the box provided for it in the 
'Enter activation key' window.  (You can use the 'Paste key' button
to do this.)  Clicking on 'Enter key' will then activate the Software and 
you will normally not need the activation key again.

If you do not receive the message with the activation key within 
three days of ordering a user license then please contact us at 
support@hermetic.ch with an alternative email address, since it may be 
that your spam filter killed the message.

6.  Reinstallation of the Software
----------------------------------

If you have previously installed this version of the Software
successfully and for some reason wish to reinstall it then you can 
simply rerun the SETUP.EXE program.

If you have previously installed an earlier version of the Software
then installing this new version may overwrite some files used by 
the old version, which then may or may not function correctly.

Thus it is recommended to uninstall the old version before installing
a new version.  This can be done by selecting Start | Settings | 
Control Panel then Add/Remove Programs.

If you have activated the Software, and you reinstall it, it will
not be necessary to reactivate it.

If you install a new version of the Software on the same PC then you
will normally not need to obtain a new activation key.  If you install
a new version on a different PC then you will need a new activation key
(provided free to holders of a user licence).

7.  Acknowledgements
--------------------

Easy Graphics File Converter was written in October 2003 to 
February 2004 by Peter Meyer (dba Hermetic Systems), who also
wrote the documentation.

The low-level graphics file conversion functions used in 
this software are a subset of the functions in Version 2.4 
of Scott Heiman's BMGLib API for reading and saving
BitMapped Graphics (BMG) on the Windows operating system.
    
The DLL used encapsulates the libJPEG library, the libPNG library,
and other functions.  Copyright 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 M. Scott Heiman. 
All Rights Reserved.  Associated copyrights as below:

libJPEG is Copyright 1991-1998 Thomas G. Lane and is part of
the Independent JPEG Group's software. 
libPNG is Copyright 1995, 1996 Guy Eric Schalnat, Group 42, Inc.
zLib Copyright 1995-1998 Jean-loup Gailly.
libUnGif is Copyright 1997 Eric S. Raymond.
Easy Graphics File Converter is Copyright 2003-2004 Hermetic Systems.

Many thanks to the programmers who wrote the code for these
function libraries and for making them available for anyone to use.
