OT: Free Fonts

From: John Hudson (tiro@tiro.com)
Date: Thu Dec 04 2003 - 14:30:02 EST

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    At 02:29 AM 12/4/2003, Philippe Verdy wrote:

    >A simple look at some core fonts used in Windows will reveal that
    >they are hinted for ClearType with subpixel hinting.

    No, the core fonts in Windows were all hinted for b/w rendering, because
    that is the rendering that MS used when those fonts were developed. MS are
    not currently shipping any fonts that are specifically hinted for ClearType
    rendering, although that will change in future. The old core fonts -- Times
    New Roman, Arial, Courier -- were made to look as good as possible onscreen
    at small sizes in b/w using every trick in the TT instruction set. Some of
    those instructions, e.g. x-direction final deltas, are deliberately ignored
    by the CT renderer; others are interpreted but are not necessary for good
    CT rendering and in some cases produce poorer results.

    >My opinion is that Microsoft must have licensed from Apple the patented
    >technology so that these protected instructions are effectively used in
    >the Microsoft TrueType renderer, and Microsoft may have offered its own
    >license on ClearType's subpixel rendering to Apple so that these companies
    >are not required to pay royaltees to each other.

    Now you are just making stuff up! You don't know what you are talking
    about. ClearType is a proprietary renderer that Microsoft don't share with
    anyone. They certainly don't share it with Apple. Apple and Adobe both have
    their own subpixel renderers, but these are *not* ClearType. And no, I'm
    not going to explain ClearType super-sampling and colour filtering to you,
    since we're already way off topic for this list and you don't seem to show
    any indication of actually listening to what knowledgeable people tell you.

    >After all, the OpenType spec is a joint initiative of Microsoft and Apple
    >and including some other source of typography such as Adobe and Agfa.

    Philippe, every time you open your mouth on this subject you display more
    ignorance. OpenType is *not* a joint initiative of Microsoft and Apple:
    OpenType is a joint initiative of Microsoft and Adobe. Only Microsoft and
    Adobe. Those two companies own the OT spec. Apple owns the original TT spec
    and their additions to it. The Apple TT spec and the Microsoft/Adobe OT
    spec are divergent and each contains numerous tables that the other does not.

    John Hudson

    Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com
    Vancouver, BC tiro@tiro.com

    Theory set out to produce texts that could not be processed successfully
    by the commonsensical assumptions that ordinary language puts into play.
    There are texts of theory that resist meaning so powerfully ... that the
    very process of failing to comprehend the text is part of what it has to offer
                 - Lentricchia & Mclaughlin, _Critical terms for literary study_



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