Re: svg fonts as web font format?

David Woolley wrote:

> There is a branding/design integrity issue here, as well as a copyright 
> one.  Truetype and Type 1 use different splines (one cubic and one 
> quadratic) and use radically different hinting mechanisms.  The result 
> of a conversion is a degraded font, and I doubt that many commercial 
> designers would consider it acceptable to use their font in any form 
> that does not work exactly like the form in which it left them.

Fair point, and not one I had considered.

[snip]

> At least one of the fears of the font vendors must be that the man in 
> the street will believe they have a moral right to use any font they 
> find on the web (although such users are unlikely to buy, so maybe don't 
> pose a real risk - I've heard rumours that some software vendors 
> tolerate high levels of home user piracy, because it creates a market 
> for the software from business users, who they can exploit for revenue).

I also think that (at least amongst users of integrity)
piracy can lead to sales that would otherwise not occur.
If there is a product that looks as if it will do the
job, but the evaluation edition is so crippled that
a real evaluation is impossible, then I do not think
that it is unreasonable to try a pirate copy first,
provided that this leads either to a sale or to the
removal of the pirate version after a reasonable
evaluation period.  And provided, of course, that
it is a /real/ evaluation, and not just an excuse
to get the job done with zero outlay and then remove
the software.

Philip TAYLOR