Liberation fonts are “really free”…

The average computer user seldom stops to think about who owns the rights to the fonts they use.

Ubiquitous fonts like Times New Roman, Arial and Courier New are from Microsoft so even though they’re used freely, they’re not open sourced. Actually, those fonts are closed sourced and Microsoft has them under a virtual lock-down within its own systems, like its operating systems.

If you feel uneasy with these largely invisible shackles, you’ll be happy to learn about the Liberation Fonts which replace these popular fonts, for free. Like, really totally free. Including the source code for the fonts.

A while back (on May 9, 2007), Red Hat announced the initial public release of these fonts under the trademark LIBERATION at the Red Hat Summit.

There are three sets:

1. Sans (a substitute for Arial, Albany, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, and Bitstream Vera Sans);
2. Serif (a substitute for Times New Roman, Thorndale, Nimbus Roman, and Bitstream Vera Serif); and
3. Mono (a substitute for Courier New, Cumberland, Courier, Nimbus Mono L, and Bitstream Vera Sans Mono).

You’re free to use these fonts on any system you’d like.

Furthermore, you’re free to redistribute them under the GPL+exception license found in the download. Using these fonts does not subject your documents to the GPL but it actually liberates them from any proprietary claim.

Download these wonderfully free fonts right now and get a taste for “true freedom”!