Feeling uncomfortable with designation `public'

[TWG-TDS@SHSU.edu]

I feel more and more uncomfortable with the designation `public' in the 
font tree. I think, all ``supported'' fonts should be sorted under their 
supporter.

The reasons are:

a) `public' is easily mistaken for `public domain' by the general public,
allthough almost all font currently sorted under `public' aren't. 

b) There is ongoing talk (e.g. on comp.fonts) which wants to equate 
public with low quality. Of course, the originators of that talk have 
commercial interest in this perception, however the contributors of 
free font probably don't want to find their work in a directory named `low 
quality' in public perception.

c) For supported fonts, the authors accept bug reports (even if they may 
wait 3 years before taking them from their stack). So why not giving the 
athors credit in the directory tree?

d) Even the font donated by their founderies to the X consortium (and are 
therefore more public than many `public' METAFONTs) are listed in the 
sample tree under the name of the foundery. So there's unequal treatment 
of `public' fonts.

For me (as a font author), b) is most serious.


--J"org Knappen