Re: Herritage Foundation Piece

[Tod Landis <landis@cruzio.com>]

  You are right that there were improvements
  in TrueType after Microsoft licensed it from Apple.
  It is important to realize that these improvements were not
  "trail blazing" innovation.  They followed work done by
  Adobe, Bitstream, Agfa, and others.  TrueType defined
  the interface between Microsoft products and bitmap font
  systems, and, by using it, Microsoft came to dominate the bitmap
  font market.  (The book, Microsoft Secrets, describes
  how these proprietary standards are employed to dominate
  markets in Chapter 3)
  
  Adobe did not have a monopoly on desktop type.
  It was also available from Bitstream, in Bitstream proprietary
  formats, before Microsoft licensed TrueType
  technology.  And from Agfa.   I believe that HP had licensed
  the Agfa  font technology before Microsoft licensed TrueType,
  but I am not sure of this.
  
  The real pioneers in WYSIWYG editing were the engineers
  at Aldus and various smaller companies who applied bitmap
  font technology for desktop products..  They did the innovation,
  eg. linecounting on the fly, that led to new features in MS Word.
  
  Again, Microsoft came to own the word processor market
  after it gave away 450,000 of its product.  As we all know,
  Word is no longer free.
  
  Tod Landis
  
  
  tom hull wrote:
  
  > Tod Landis wrote:
  >
  > >Forgive me for repeating this, but Microsoft is not responsible
  > >for the wonderful opportunities we have on the Internet any
  > >more than they are responsible for PC software, WYSIWYG
  > >editing, or spreadsheets.
  >
  > The only thing I take exception to is WYSIWYG editing. They did
  > make one important contribution there: the development of
  > TrueType font technology (along with Bitstream and, I think, HP).
  > Of course, the reason they did this is that they wouldn't allow
  > themselves to be held hostage to Adobe, which at the time held
  > an effective monopoly on desktop type, which everyone else
  > had to pay dearly for. TrueType not only broke Adobe's hold,
  > it broke the commercial type industry, which is why anyone can
  > pick up thousands of fonts now dirt cheap.
  >
  > Unlike the Heritage Foundation, Microsoft does not believe in
  > the principle of monopoly. They only believe in their own right
  > to run roughshod over the rest of us.
  >
  >   -- Tom Hull
  >
  > .-