Less verdant in the south..?
October 29, 2003 3:58 AM   Subscribe

No Microsoft web fonts for Mac OS? With the passing of Internet Explorer for Mac OS it seems that web favourites such as Verdana & Georgia may no longer be available without installing Microsoft software. More discussion here. [via Typographica]
posted by i_cola (23 comments total)
 
In other typography news, Vincent Connair explains 'Why Comic Sans?'
posted by i_cola at 3:59 AM on October 29, 2003


I just plain don't like Verdana fonts. I prefer Helvetica, and welcome our new Helvetica overlords back to the Macintosh platform.
posted by benjh at 4:58 AM on October 29, 2003


I like Verdana because it's good at small font sizes - perfect when you have bosses who want to get a small book shoved into a 100*20px space.

Personally i find it hard to believe that MS would produce something, wait until it becomes the standard (or a major standard) across the board, and then withdraw it from circulation.

/sarcasm.
posted by twine42 at 5:07 AM on October 29, 2003


Well, to be honest, I'm at a point where I'd rather see Comic Sans than Times New Roman. The Microsoft links read a bit too much like vacation resort advertising copy.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 5:24 AM on October 29, 2003


how is Microsoft withdrawing anything twine? The article says that Apple is not including IE anymore, not that Microsoft has stopped supplying it. You can still download IE for the mac to your heart's content (even thought I don't particularly like it on anything other than MacOS 9)
posted by stupidcomputernickname at 5:27 AM on October 29, 2003


You can download IE at the moment, but they are talking of stopping this.

This means that either the fonts vanish, or that the fonts are only available if you buy an MS product, I'm not sure which.
posted by twine42 at 5:42 AM on October 29, 2003


Microsoft are planning on stopping IE, not Apple. Sorry, that wasn't very clear.
posted by twine42 at 5:42 AM on October 29, 2003


What, then, will Microsoft be installing on these?
posted by Scoo at 5:44 AM on October 29, 2003


Hmmm. The free download of the Web Fonts has been discontinued.
posted by Stuart_R at 6:10 AM on October 29, 2003


Git yer core fonts 'ere.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 6:22 AM on October 29, 2003


The official MS download of these fonts was discontinued some time ago. As monju_bosatsu points out, you can still get them elsewhere.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 6:29 AM on October 29, 2003


Thanks, MB, although I'm not sure Mac users can take advantage of that--seems to be Linux-only.
posted by adamrice at 7:01 AM on October 29, 2003


Internet Explorer is installed with Panther. So, I guess we Mac users have those fonts for another year or so.
posted by kindall at 7:15 AM on October 29, 2003


not to beat a dead horse, but where did you hear that MSFT is going to pull the download? The website says that MSFT is continuing support and allow downloads until at least 31 Dec 2005
posted by stupidcomputernickname at 7:18 AM on October 29, 2003


It would be trivial to make an automagic corefont-installer for OSX using the files on that Sourceforge site. If there's enough uproar, expect an automagic installer to come out soonish.
posted by zsazsa at 7:39 AM on October 29, 2003


There are two issues. First, Microsoft stopped allowing a separate download of their Web fonts in August '02. See Zeldman and Slashdot for coverage. According to the posts in i_cola's links, Apple may have also stopped including the fonts with OS X. I can't confirm that, since my Mac's at home.
posted by hyperizer at 8:02 AM on October 29, 2003


They also mention Arial in the article. ARIAL!? Like they're actually concerned about missing Arial?! Don't Macs still come with Helvetica? Arial is a rip-off of Helvetica that looks like dog crap. The fewer computers that come with Arial, the better!
posted by bhayes82 at 8:58 AM on October 29, 2003


This disappoints me. I am a recent convert to Mac (Panther install later today!!) and I use Georgia for EVERYTHING.

In the grand scheme of things though, I think I will live.
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 9:02 AM on October 29, 2003


It doesn't matter. Mac OS X can use Windows fonts, too. Big deal.
posted by Mo Nickels at 1:57 PM on October 29, 2003


Gorgeous Georgia
posted by divrsional at 3:54 PM on October 29, 2003


Georgia is a tough web typeface to beat...
posted by lotsofno at 5:56 PM on October 29, 2003


Back to courier!
posted by spilon at 7:47 PM on October 29, 2003


Georgia's nice, but I like Verdana and Trebuchet for their lack of clutter (sans-serif). I think large x-height looks like shite in print, but it sure is nice for the LCD.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:30 PM on October 29, 2003


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