[Fontconfig] Using MS licenses

[Benjamin Rossen]

Getting many ttf fonts into Linux

Pardon me if this is an old idea; it is a new one to me, provided a welcome 
solution to the font problem in Linux, and may be interesting for others to 
try. 

I happen to have a cupboard of legitimate Windows licenses, from win 95, eight 
Win NT 4.0 licenses and more. This makes me a license user of the fonts. I 
have moved the fonts from my Windows XP to my RH Fedora 3, with excellent 
results; everything in true type. Because many web site developers specify 
font names in their HTML or CSS, and these are often Windows font names, 
these sites do not render well in Linux with no more than open source fonts. 

If you don't have an Windows license, you can often get an old license very 
cheaply. It is ofen possible to get one from people who are dumping old 
machines. At the annual computer expo in Eindhoven (near where I live), there 
are many dealers dumping old software. Old Windows packets can be purchased 
for a few tens of Euros. I suppose, if you want to have a legitimate license 
before using the Windows fonts, this is probably the cheapest way to do this. 

Benjamin