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From: ewright@convex.com (Edward V. Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.fonts
Subject: Re: Mac font info summary wanted
Message-ID: <1991Apr04.180946.11856@convex.com>
Date: 4 Apr 91 18:09:46 GMT
References: <1991Apr03.210401.21786@ux1.cts.eiu.edu> <1707@tekig7.MAP.TEK.COM>
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In article <1707@tekig7.MAP.TEK.COM> briand@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Brian D Diehm) writes:

>Some facts:

>1. PostScript is a page description language, which has incorporated in it
>a very high order of graphic capability and very good outline fonts.

Not quite. PostScript fonts are written in the PostScript language, but 
they are not "incorporated into" (i.e., part of) the PostScript interpreter.

>4. Microsoft developed TrueType because Bill Gates was morally offended by a
>non-Microsoft company making money. Well, that may be coloring it...

TrueType was developed by Apple, not Microsoft.  Apple licensed TrueType
to Microsoft and received the right to use Microsoft's *TrueImage* PostScript
clone in exchange.  This apparently was a bad deal for Apple, since
TrueImage has never been used in any printer and reportedly doesn't
even work. 

>10. The capabilities of TrueType (except for 8. above) have been provided
>by PostScript for many years now. Even ATM, which moved those capabilities
>onto the screen, is now several years old and has been enhanced several
>times.

I'm pretty sure that ATM is no more than two years old.

>Amazing what greed will do, isn't it? Now we have TWO type standards to
>choose from, even though every type house could and can produce to either.
>You the consumer benefit, right? Yeah, you benefit in higher prices because
>of all this folderol. That's the long outcome. 

Do you have any evidence to back up this opinion?  Are TrueType fonts
more expensive than PostScript fonts?  (Not that that would prove much
at this stage, since TrueType is still new and it may take time for the
price to go down.)  Given that there are several utilities available for
converting PostScript fonts to TrueType, I don't see how a large price
differential could be maintained.

I do know that, thanks to TrueType, you can now buy a $1300 list laser
printer that does what only a $2600 machine could do before.  I suspect
that you can buy a lot of TrueType fonts for that $1300 difference.