[Fontconfig] Using MS licenses

Benjamin Rossen
Mon, 21 Nov 2005 08:51:02 -0000

Getting many ttf fonts into Linux

Pardon me if this is an old idea; it is a new one to me, provided a welcome
solution to the font problem in Linux, and may be interesting for others to
try.

I happen to have a cupboard of legitimate Windows licenses, from win 95, eight
Win NT 4.0 licenses and more. This makes me a license user of the fonts. I
have moved the fonts from my Windows XP to my RH Fedora 3, with excellent
results; everything in true type. Because many web site developers specify
font names in their HTML or CSS, and these are often Windows font names,
these sites do not render well in Linux with no more than open source fonts.

If you don''t have an Windows license, you can often get an old license
very
cheaply. It is ofen possible to get one from people who are dumping old
machines. At the annual computer expo in Eindhoven (near where I live), there
are many dealers dumping old software. Old Windows packets can be purchased
for a few tens of Euros. I suppose, if you want to have a legitimate license
before using the Windows fonts, this is probably the cheapest way to do this.

Benjamin