Now that TrueType fonts are supported natively around the board
(Win32, Mac, BeOS, And practically every *nix now), maybe a true type
lib for SDL that does’nt use freetype should be written.
Phoenix Kokido
members.xoom.com/kokido
@Wes_Poole
Now that TrueType fonts are supported natively around the board
(Win32, Mac, BeOS, And practically every *nix now), maybe a true type
lib for SDL that does’nt use freetype should be written.Phoenix Kokido
members.xoom.com/kokido
kokido at postmark.net
I think you slightly mis-understood the problem with True-Type Fonts and
freetype. It’s a patent problem. Basically, the technology required to
decode True-Type Fonts is (depending on interpertation) likely to be
patented by Adobe and/or Apple (I forget which one). This affects ANY
True-Type Font decoder… even a clean-room implementation. The reason
that this isn’t an issue on commercial platforms such as Win32, Mac, and
BeOS is that their implementations are licenced FROM Adobe and/or Apple.
The only way around this is for Adobe and/or Apple to sign over the
right to use these patented technologies to freetype (or whoever)…
maybe in exchange for advertising space on the freetype website or
something…
Regards,
-Loren
Perhaps I missed something, but is there going to be a problem with using
freetype in our code? Currently
I’m doing a GPL’d project which uses gltt. I’m really not too excited about
the prospect of changing that
because gltt is a really neat library that does what I need really well.
-W.W.
Loren Osborn wrote in message
news:200003101646.IAA21291 at localhost.lokigames.com…> >
Now that TrueType fonts are supported natively around the board
(Win32, Mac, BeOS, And practically every *nix now), maybe a true type
lib for SDL that does’nt use freetype should be written.Phoenix Kokido
members.xoom.com/kokido
kokido at postmark.netI think you slightly mis-understood the problem with True-Type Fonts and
freetype. It’s a patent problem. Basically, the technology required to
decode True-Type Fonts is (depending on interpertation) likely to be
patented by Adobe and/or Apple (I forget which one). This affects ANY
True-Type Font decoder… even a clean-room implementation. The reason
that this isn’t an issue on commercial platforms such as Win32, Mac, and
BeOS is that their implementations are licenced FROM Adobe and/or Apple.
The only way around this is for Adobe and/or Apple to sign over the
right to use these patented technologies to freetype (or whoever)…
maybe in exchange for advertising space on the freetype website or
something…Regards,
-Loren
There could be a problem with using it, yes. Even in GPL applications.
It all depends on how Apple/Adobe decide to handle the patent. They have
every right to come to anyone using the patented true-type algorithms and
tell you to stop using it or even ask for royalties.
I hope that neither of the above happen, as do many in the open source
world.–
Brian
Perhaps I missed something, but is there going to be a problem with using
freetype in our code? Currently
I’m doing a GPL’d project which uses gltt. I’m really not too excited about
the prospect of changing that
because gltt is a really neat library that does what I need really well.-W.W.Loren Osborn wrote in message
news:200003101646.IAA21291 at localhost.lokigames.com…Now that TrueType fonts are supported natively around the board
(Win32, Mac, BeOS, And practically every *nix now), maybe a true type
lib for SDL that does’nt use freetype should be written.Phoenix Kokido
members.xoom.com/kokido
kokido at postmark.netI think you slightly mis-understood the problem with True-Type Fonts and
freetype. It’s a patent problem. Basically, the technology required to
decode True-Type Fonts is (depending on interpertation) likely to be
patented by Adobe and/or Apple (I forget which one). This affects ANY
True-Type Font decoder… even a clean-room implementation. The reason
that this isn’t an issue on commercial platforms such as Win32, Mac, and
BeOS is that their implementations are licenced FROM Adobe and/or Apple.
The only way around this is for Adobe and/or Apple to sign over the
right to use these patented technologies to freetype (or whoever)…
maybe in exchange for advertising space on the freetype website or
something…Regards,
-Loren
I understand the patent problem, and understand that Apple holds the
rights to it and freetype may be in violation. I suggested it because
alot of people don’t want to include SDL freetype with their projects
because they don’t want another large library that has to be linked
with their code. Since freetype is natively supported on all of SDL’s
major platforms now I assume a more lightweigt true type font lib can
be incorporated as an additional lib using native true type font
support (instead of using freetype to do what
windows/x-windows/MacOS/BeOS can already do). Whether freetype
support fonts are legal under x-windows is an x-windows problem.
Phoenix Kokido
members.xoom.com/kokido
@Wes_Poole
Loren Osborn wrote:> >
Now that TrueType fonts are supported natively around the board
(Win32, Mac, BeOS, And practically every *nix now), maybe a true type
lib for SDL that does’nt use freetype should be written.Phoenix Kokido
members.xoom.com/kokido
@Wes_PooleI think you slightly mis-understood the problem with True-Type Fonts and
freetype. It’s a patent problem. Basically, the technology required to
decode True-Type Fonts is (depending on interpertation) likely to be
patented by Adobe and/or Apple (I forget which one). This affects ANY
True-Type Font decoder… even a clean-room implementation. The reason
that this isn’t an issue on commercial platforms such as Win32, Mac, and
BeOS is that their implementations are licenced FROM Adobe and/or Apple.
The only way around this is for Adobe and/or Apple to sign over the
right to use these patented technologies to freetype (or whoever)…
maybe in exchange for advertising space on the freetype website or
something…Regards,
-Loren