[ft-devel] Possible solution for TrueType patent problems...

[Volker Jung]

Hello community,

I think that Linux will never ever kick Redmond´s ass before having 
PROFESSIONAL fonts. Fonts as good as Redmond´s fonts are (it´s not the fonts, I 
know...). How could this be achieved? Without fully featured hinting quality is 
too poor. With this hinting Apple´s rights are violated.

What to do?

Let´s do something else. We CAN´T do it via hinting within the next decade 
because Apple will kick OUR ass. Let´s forget Apple and their patents.

How many fonts does the world need to meet 99% of it´s needs? 10? 20? Not many 
at least. With a little work we can solve the problem without Apple.

The idea: From size 15 ALL fonts are drawn in a really satisfactory manner as 
antialiasing has to and can be used at those sizes. The problem is only with 
smaller sizes - glyphs are not clear enough or wobbly. Let´s put together 
TrueType fonts and bitmap fonts (of varying glyph widths). Let´s hint 
ourselves. WE do not need Apple´s algorithms. We have our eyes. WE know when 
it´s good and when it´s not. I´m talking about a maximum of 2000 hours for a 
reasonable number of fonts. On the shoulders of a few people this time can 
easily be provided by the OS community.

This idea then has to be integrated into FreeType. If there´s an additional 
bitmap file existing, FreeType ignores any hinting and antialiasing for the 
special file (if constraints are as so, of cause) and takes the data out of the 
bitmap file. This is transparent to all applications and solves the problem.

Imagine: I just wanted to change sides to Linux myself and wanted to convince 
my customers to do so, too - I have no chance to do so: Linux is ugly since 
years and it doesn´t manage to overcome it because of it´s ugly fonts. And NO: 
My customers won´t buy licences from Apple and most OS friends won´t do 
either...

What about my suggestions?

Best regards
Volker Jung