Microsoft and Apple extend font licensing agreement

At TypeCon2007 today, Microsoft Corp. and Apple announced they have renewed their font licensing agreement, giving Apple users ongoing use of the latest versions of Microsoft Windows core fonts.

Under the agreement, Apple and Microsoft are extending the seamless Web and software experience Apple users have enjoyed for years when using and viewing Microsoft fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial and Verdana.

Apple customers, developers and Web designers can safely specify fonts knowing that their documents, presentations and Web pages will appear as they are meant to be seen on screen and in print.

Source: Microsoft press release.

40 Comments

  1. These typefaces are all cheap knock-offs foisted onto the rest of us by Microsoft (not unlike everything Microsoft seems to develop). If I hear one more person say “is that the one that looks like Arial” when I’m talking about Helvetica, I’m going to scream.

  2. Arial ROCKS! I can’t believe Apple liked it so much they wasted time and energy to create Helvetica just to be like Windows. Typical. Too little, too late. I love seeing Arial everywhere. Great typeface. What I like is how it upsets MAC lemmings because it reminds them they are left with Apple’s half-baked ugly version: HELLvelveeta. Tough luck, I say.

    Once again Microsoft creates something beautiful only to have Apple copy it with a cheap knock-off.

    Your potential. Our passion.™

  3. @Zune Tang

    We all know you are a troll, amusing yourself stirring things up, but please don’t spread FALSE font facts. Helvetica was NOT created by Apple you cluless idiot.

    From Wikipedia
    HELVETICA FACTS:
    — created in 1957 as a REAL print font by Swiss graphic designer Max Miedinger.
    — is among the most widely used sans-serif typefaces.
    –Monotype’s Arial, designed in 1982, while different from Helvetica in some few details, has identical character widths, and is indistinguishable by most non-specialists.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arial

    Update:
    “In 2007, Helvetica’s 50th birthday, Microsoft replaced Arial as the default in Microsoft Office applications with a new sans-serif design Calibri by Luc(as) de Groot.”

  4. I’ll stick to my Myriad Pro, Trajan Pro, and Lucida Grande thank you very much.

    I can’t remember the last time I used Arial, or Times OldRoman. Just Myriad Pro on itself kicks all three Arial’s, Times NewRoman’s, and Verdana’s disproportionate arse.

  5. Why Apple pays Micro$hit for their lame-ass fonts is beyond me. Do we really care if unwashed Windows users need Arial because their broken operating system doesn’t ship with Helvetica? I say fuck ’em, let them wallow in their font shit-hole, we don’t need em.

  6. I like Georgia. Use it as my default anywhere I can. If you have a problem with that, learn to deal with it. When I downloaded it from MS, the page said it – and the other five included with it – were free and cross-platform. I’m surprised Apple needs a license to use them.
    As for Zune Tang, I enjoy his off-the-wall riffs. You think for a minute he is not pro-Apple and well-informed? Only the most gullible would take anything he said (with that alias) as anything but a joke. Lighten up, OK?

  7. I’m glad to hear that. Microsoft is the big fish in the pond and every Windows user is sending you an e-mail using Arial. I like the idea of fonts being universal. I hate seeing the empty rows of boxes when you get a document with unrecognizable fonts in it.

    It’s not that I feel that Microsoft makes better fonts (they don’t), but I like that they are all accessible. A surprising feat for Microsoft, who is normally famous for keeping it all to themselves. I would like to see more universal collaborations with Open type formats.

  8. “…..Apple and Microsoft are extending the seamless Web and software experience ………”

    Somehow … using the words “seemless” .. and “Microsoft” in the same sentence seems like an oxy-moron … doesnt it ?

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