[AlienSector]

It doesn't for most cable/DSL users, though in comparison to the still images, there is a 30kb gain for that one image (animated = 30 kb while non-animated = .43 k). I am not saying that is the sole cause, but it would lighten some of the load for a few users on the main page.

Firefox does play a big part as it most certainly does render the images quicker that internet explorer, though shaving down the images plays another role .