RE: New work on fonts at W3C

On Saturday, June 20, 2009 11:35 PM Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
> 
> On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 6:55 PM, Chris
> Wilson<Chris.Wilson@microsoft.com> wrote:
> > John Daggett [mailto:jdaggett@mozilla.com] wrote:
> >>On this point, actions speak louder than words.  Rather than kvetch
> >>about TTF/OTF direct linking, it would help things immensely if
> >>Microsoft were to publicly participate in discussing these matters
> and
> >>make improvements in Internet Explorer to make using @font-face less
> >>painful than it is today. After simply pushing EOT as "the answer" to
> >>this problem, very little has been done by Microsoft to participate
> in
> >>cooperative discussions of the solution.
> >
> > Hmm.  I would say the same has been true of the other camp, who have
> simply been pushing "TTF linking is the answer" and walking away from
> the other problems.  Kinda how I see the "font foundries will just get
> replaced by ones who like this strategy" comment.
> 
> To be fair, it worked with music, and is in the process of working
> with many other content industries.  Betting on free has a very good
> track record on the web, no matter how much the entrenched industries
> kick and scream about it.  I think a lot of us don't see a compelling
> reason to bet *against* the existing widespread free format yet.
> 

I would say that when it comes to music - exactly the opposite is true. Kudos to Apple and iTunes for creating a "technological playground" where billions of users and all major recording labels and artists can happily co-exist. Implementing a reasonable level of technological protection gave birth a whole new ecosystem with the abundance of content where users can easily find anything and everything they want and don't mind paying for it. Technology (yes, I intentionally avoid saying that d-word but we all know what it is) created a backbone for new business model to be put in place that both consumers and content providers can live with. The whole iTunes/iPod/iPhone universe would have been impossible to create if music industry didn't agree to participate.


Vladimir

> ~TJ

Received on Monday, 22 June 2009 15:44:40 UTC