[OS X TeX] gtamacfonts ligatures: PDF searchability

[Gilles Pérez-Lambert]

Hellon

On 3/28/06, William Adams <will.adams at frycomm.com> wrote:
> On Mar 28, 2006, at 8:16 AM, Bruno Voisin wrote:
> > Furthermore, it would seem unfair from Apple to prevent "pre-
> > processing" of the OS X fonts for TeX use: this would result in
> > discrimination, regarding which software can use the fonts and
> > which software can't. (I know a lawyer would probably object to
> > this reasoning -- it feels suspiciously like the Apple vs. French
> > DRM draft law issue --, but this is how it feels in any case.)
>
> It's not fair to take unfair advantage of the usage rights granted by
> Apple on behalf of the owners of these designs. Apple licensed these
> fonts from their designers for use in and within Mac OS X --- TeX
> isn't bundled w/ Mac OS X, so it's unreasonable to expect that they
> should work with TeX.

Er, I don't understand something here. You say "for use in and within
Mac OS X" and that TeX is not bundled with OS X. So, if a program is
not installed by OS X, it should not use the fonts. Or, to be more
precise if I understand you in the thread, it a program does not use
OS X's way of reading fonts... I do not agree at all. TeX (not
restricted to XeTeX) *is* using OS X.

What is controversial is the Apple Licence which says not to copy or
decompile the sofware (therefore fonts). Is reading a dfont
decompiling or even copying? I'd like one day to have official words
from Apple. Dfont is just a way to wrap ttf data, no more, no less. I
tried to follow all the historical threads of these list archives but
I may have not found Apple words on that specific matter.

By the way, I found quite strange to ask someone to pay twice for a
font one already paid with the system. It's not "unfair" use. I know
fonts are to be paid (and I pay for them) but I don't want to pay
twice for them just to have them packaged (pfa, pfb, ttf, otf...)
differently.

Gilles.
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