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Liberation Fonts Increase Interoperability For Linux Users

Posted by timothy on from the yes-yes-gnu-slash-linux dept.

hweimer writes "Most problems when opening Word documents under GNU/Linux are due to missing fonts. Therefore, Red Hat published a set of fonts metric-compatible with the Windows core fonts last year. However, there were some concerns regarding the licensing that prevented many other distros to ship them. We finally managed to settle these problems, leading to better document interoperability for all GNU/Linux users."

4 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Do I need/want these? by pshuke · · Score: 5, Informative
    Probably not. The appeal with these fonts, as I understand it, is that they can be distributed along with the rest of the operating system. Corefonts have some slight copyright issues. From the licence:


    Reproduction and Distribution. You may reproduce and distribute an unlimited number of copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT; provided that each copy shall be a true and complete copy, including all copyright and trademark notices, and shall be accompanied by a copy of this EULA. Copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT may not be distributed for profit either on a standalone basis or included as part of your own product.

    Note in particular the "Copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT may not be distributed for profit either on a standalone basis or included as part of your own product." part.

  2. And similar enough to be a good substitute by Lonewolf666 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Like Arial is rather similar to Helvetica. Some people claim that Microsoft did this to avoid paying royalties, see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arial#Criticism.2FSimilar_fonts.
    Now this may be true or not, but after they almost copied Helvetica with Arial, turnabout's fair play.

    --
    C - the footgun of programming languages
  3. Re:This is good, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Gentium. It's released under the Open Font License, which I believe is "free" (by the FSF's definition).

    It was also designed with many extended Latin characters, allowing ethnic groups across the world to produce documents typeset in Gentium. (I mean, just look at all these diacritics!)

    Say what you want about the organization that produced these (SIL International), but this is a good-looking, high-quality typeface, which fits your criteria perfectly.

  4. Re:I fixed it for you by deniable · · Score: 4, Informative

    We had Word documents get so screwed up that Word wouldn't open them. The best fix was to open them in OpenOffice and re-save them. It messed up the formatting, but it was better than losing a days work. I keep it around as a repair tool even in an all MS shop.

    If you think Word is evil, stay away from Publisher.