Beware of geeks bearing .GIFs (especially if they call them “jifs”)!
More to the point: If the originator of the first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus preferred to pronounce the resulting acronym, SCUBA, as “scyuba” rather than “scooba,” do you think that personal choice would have prevailed with the public in the end? Of course not.
It’s very simple: the “G” in .GIF stands for a word that is pronounced with a hard G—period—so pronunciation rules dictate that the acronym also be pronounced with a hard G. Now that’s a reasoned “end to the discussion” as opposed to bowing to the dictates of a single individual’s “personal preference,” originator or not. Sometime in the future, sooner or later, we will only hear the term as .GIF and not .JIF, I jarantee it. ♥