[OpenFontLibrary] What's the big deal about @font-face anyway?

[Behdad Esfahbod]

Hi,

I hope I don't get flamed for this.  I'm not a typophile, but an i18n'er. 
I've been working all my adult life making sure GNOME is accessible to people 
in any language they wish to use it with.  I fully understand the importance 
of having good, high quality, legible, fonts.  I also appreciate an Open font 
library.  I was making a video last week and wanted a fancy script font. 
Surfed to OFLB and downloaded one in under a minute.

What I don't understand is, why is it a good idea to let website designers 
choose what font *I* read their text with?  It's a basic usability question. 
I don't have Tahoma and Verdana and Arial installed for a reason.  I like the 
text I read the way I read it the easiest.  So, please tell me, how is making 
it easier for website designers to enforce their type on me a good thing?

Thanks,
behdad