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Mac Users' Internet Experience to Retain Same Fonts

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the keep-on-truckin' dept.

thefickler sent in this article that opens, "Mac users will continue to see the Internet as it was intended, thanks to the renewal of a font licensing agreement between Microsoft and Apple. At TypeCon2007 Microsoft and Apple announced they have renewed their font licensing agreement, giving Apple users ongoing use of the latest versions of Microsoft Windows core fonts. Back in 1996 Microsoft started the "Core fonts for the Web" initiative. The idea of this initiative was to create a a standard pack of fonts that would be present on all or most computers, allowing web pages to be displayed consistently on different computers. While the project was terminated in 2002, some of the fonts defined as core fonts for the web have gone on to become known as "web safe fonts," and are therefore widely used by Internet developers."

12 of 282 comments (clear)

  1. It works! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The idea of this initiative was to create a a standard pack of fonts that would be present on all or most computers, allowing web pages to be displayed consistently on different computers. Yup, everything looks just fine on both my Windows XP and Windows Vista computers! Life is good.
    1. Re:It works! by Divebus · · Score: 2, Funny

      Microsoft cares about a uniform web experience? There's a "Lost and Found" story for ya'.

      --

      Most of the stuff on /. won't survive first contact with facts.
  2. a wild guess by User+956 · · Score: 4, Funny

    While the project was terminated in 2002, some of the fonts defined as core fonts for the web have gone on to become known as "web safe fonts"

    I'm guessing the "Goatse Wingding super font pack" is not on that list.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
    1. Re:a wild guess by Dachannien · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm guessing the "Goatse Wingding super font pack" is not on that list.

      Today's episode of Slashdot has been brought to you by the letter O.

  3. One of Apple's worst decisions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Let's see what Apple gained here:

    1. Arial - Crap
    2. Times New Roman - Crap
    3. Comic Sans - Quite possibly the font of the antichrist
    4. Courier New - Crap and Apple has access to Courier (the good one) anyway
    5. Georgia - Decent but could be replaced with Garamond in any situation for better results
    6. Impact - Futura with a missing chromosome
    7. Trebuchet - I was mistaken, THIS is the font of the antichrist
    8. Verdana - Doesn't Apple own their own variant of Myriad? What the hell do they need this for?
    9. Andale Mono - Could be worse, but why care when you have the rights to use Monaco?
    10. Webdings - wow, just wow

    I sincerely hope Apple didn't spend a lot of money on this crap.

  4. Embrace extend extinguish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I this is just part of an evil plot to get Mac users used to using these fonts then later MS will make you buy the vowels.

    1. Re:Embrace extend extinguish by letsgolightning · · Score: 5, Funny

      Mcrsft wld nvr d tht!

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      2^4 * 3 * 20929
  5. Re:Whatever happened to content vs presentation? by Dr.+Cody · · Score: 5, Funny

    Specific fonts (or, correctly, "typefaces" - a given font is a particular incarnation of a typeface, including size, so Comic Sans 10pt is a different font to Comic Sans 12pt) shouldn't be necessary - families of typefaces maybe, if you're trying to achieve a particular style, but not fonts or even necessarily typefaces.

    I spent a few years working with desktop publishing gurus turned web developers, and I heard this goddamn typeface/font distinction made all the time.

    It drove me nuts, but, in the end, one of us was correct about the use of a common technical definition, and the other had sex with women.

  6. Re:You aren't a designer by 1729 · · Score: 2, Funny

    On the other hand, I am a pedant. I pay close attention to fonts. I notice when a single character has been substituted because the specified font didn't have a glyph for a particular codepoint.

    That reminds me of this message on Donald Knuth's webpage. As much as I appreciate both the fonts and the typesetting provided by TeX, I doubt I would ever notice the difference between the deltas.
  7. Re:Eww, I wish that license would expire by forkazoo · · Score: 4, Funny

    If a bank's website - any website, really - is dependant on the presense of certain fonts or the use of certain font sizes in order to be useful, the designer needs to be take out and severely beaten.


    I Agree! But, I think that when you say "severely," that word needs to be in 24 point bold italic print in order to get the point across more precisely.
  8. Some other terms incompatible with "Microsoft" by cmacb · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ethics, honesty, style, humor, etc.

  9. Re:You aren't a designer by moreati · · Score: 2, Funny

    you never have to be offended by the sight of Arial again :-)

    Surely you mean the site of Arial?