[XeTeX] Arial and Times New Roman license?

[Peter Baker]

Adam Twardoch (List) wrote:
> They are closed-source packages with a very limited right of
> distribution which only applies to that particular version of the fonts.
> I must admit that I was somewhat surprised: many opensource vendors are
> known for bashing Microsoft and labeling it "an evil company", but if
> Microsoft publishes some quality fonts with a permission to distribute,
> all the vendors jump on it like mice onto a piece of cheese, rather than
> investing in developing quality fonts themselves.
>
> I consider this moral relativism, but what do I know :)
>
>   
Many Linux users do download and install the "MS Core Fonts" package. I 
don't know the details of every Linux distribution, but if you look at 
the repositories of, say Ubuntu and Fedora, two of the biggest, you 
won't find them. For Ubuntu users they are available through the 
"Multiverse" repository, which hosts "non-free" software (e.g. the Adobe 
Flash plugin); Canonical warns that it does not support or maintain this 
software. But if you look more closely you'll find that the fonts 
themselves aren't even on the server, but only an installer that grabs 
them from the Sourceforge site.

This may seem a distinction without a difference to some, but it's 
pretty clear that Linux vendors are not encouraging their users to 
install these fonts, and some (e.g. Red Hat) have gone to some trouble 
and expense to make it unnecessary.

Peter