libtiff4 vs libtiff3 ?

[melodie]

Hi,
Is this libtiff: http://download.osgeo.org/libtiff/tiff-4.0.1.tar.gz

Name        : libtiff4                     Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version     : 4.0.1                             Vendor: PCLinuxOS
Release     : 1pclos2012                    Build Date: sam. 03 mars 2012 17:58:06 CET

the replacement for this one ?

Name        : libtiff3                     Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version     : 3.9.5                             Vendor: (none)
Release     : 1pclos2011                    Build Date: mer. 13 avril 2011 18:47:11 CEST

If so, can libtiff3 be safely removed from all installs ?

Thanks,
Mélodie

PS: it seems not : I tried and it would have remove a bunch of important packages... will it be save to remove it in a near future, as it is not listed anymore in any component section ?