Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Discriminates Against Liberation Serif -- Claim

Summary: Somebody in the #techrights IRC channel claims that Microsoft stifles font interoperability

Can any of our readers please confirm if this is true? And if so, is it "just a coincidence" or intentional? It's clear what Microsoft would say -- pretty much the same thing is says when it wipes the MBR/all partitions upon Windows installation.



twitterI had an annoying thing happen the other day.  I tried to share with a Microsoft user, only to find out that Office 2007 displays a horrid font for Liberation Serif.Jan 14 00:01
twitterInstead of displaying the nearly identical Times New Roman or Liberation Serif, it displays some kind of win 3.1 era font.  I don't see this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Font_Comparison_-_Liberation_Serif_to_Times_New_Roman.svgJan 14 00:02
TechrightsBot-trError processing the URL: HTTP/1.0 403 ForbiddenJan 14 00:02
twitterI see something else.Jan 14 00:02
twitterWhen I looked the issue up , I found " Microsoft                                         Unicode BMP only"Jan 14 00:03
twitterhttp://www.fonts2u.com/liberation-serif-bold.fontJan 14 00:03
TechrightsBot-trTitle: Liberation Serif Bold font .::. Size~: 38.13 KBJan 14 00:03
twitterSo how's that for interoperability?  You can't cooperate with a malicious bully.  The bully will always do something nasty and blame you for the results.Jan 14 00:04
twitterOn the funny side, I also noticed that Microsoft is a big Linux user http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=social.answers.microsoft.comJan 14 00:04
TechrightsBot-trTitle: Netcraft What's That Site Running Results .::. Size~: 12.39 KBJan 14 00:04
twitter" F5's BIG-IP product is based on a network appliance (either virtual or physical), which runs F5's Traffic Management Operating System (TMOS), which runs on top of Linux." -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F5_NetworksJan 14 00:05
TechrightsBot-trTitle: F5 Networks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .::. Size~: 51.47 KBJan 14 00:05
DaemonFCtwitter, There's a word for that.....Jan 14 00:05
DaemonFC"Oops! :)"Jan 14 00:05
DaemonFCthey're so petty they'll even screw up the fonts in a document someone made without MS WordJan 14 00:06
twittermost of those kinds of screw ups are intentional.  there's no reason for Microsoft to not carry and render common free software fontsJan 14 00:07
DaemonFCYou never know what you'll get when you trade documents with an MS Office userJan 14 00:07
DaemonFCor what will happen when they go to open yoursJan 14 00:07
DaemonFCgood thing OOXML is such an open standard and always works the same way twiceJan 14 00:08
twitteryou can be sure that nothing will ever interoperate with Microsoft, not even Microsoft.Jan 14 00:08
DaemonFC:)Jan 14 00:08
DaemonFCyeah, 2010 finally supports the OOXML ISO standard, but only for readingJan 14 00:08
DaemonFCif you get a valid file in Office 2010 and save it, it uses the same broken format as Office 2007Jan 14 00:09
twitterWell, the real answer is to tell the person on the other end to just get Open Office.Jan 14 00:09
DaemonFCso even if the next Office actually spits out ISO OOXML, the first time an Office 2010 user opens and saves, it'll be screwed up againJan 14 00:09
twitterThey do a free download and install or you spend $400, and have to find a VM with Winblows on it.Jan 14 00:10
DaemonFCit's pointless to support the valid standard for import when there's nothing that can actually create a compliant fileJan 14 00:10
DaemonFCincluding their own productJan 14 00:10
DaemonFCmakes me wonder why they did itJan 14 00:10
DaemonFCI still save to Word 2000's binary formatJan 14 00:11
DaemonFCbecause it's the only way to be sure they'll open in newer versions of MS OfficeJan 14 00:12
cubezzzjust use ASCIIJan 14 00:12
twitterMicrosoft made a phoney open document format so they could pretend to meet government standards for software freedom and interoperability.Jan 14 00:12
cubezzz;-)Jan 14 00:12
twitterI use ODF for my work.Jan 14 00:12
twitteror plain text via email.Jan 14 00:12
DaemonFCIndiana says that it's acceptable for government agencies to use OOXML, ODF, or PDFJan 14 00:12
cubezzzok, sometimes I do use pdfJan 14 00:13
DaemonFCbut all you ever get from them is OOXMLJan 14 00:13
twitterwhy did they start using OOXML?Jan 14 00:13
cubezzzI've never used OOXMLJan 14 00:13
DaemonFCthe state is schizophrenicJan 14 00:13
cubezzzembrace -> extend (you are here) ->Jan 14 00:13
DaemonFCthey use OOXML, at the same time they transition their websites over to Apache on LinuxJan 14 00:13
twitterYou can be sure they get a lot of complaints.Jan 14 00:14
DaemonFCthey're also migrating to W3C compliant pages on those sitesJan 14 00:14
DaemonFCbut about half the sites haven't switched over yetJan 14 00:14
twitterYou should complain to them.Jan 14 00:14
DaemonFCso you need Internet Explorer to open half, and a compliant browser to get the compliant pages IE won't loadJan 14 00:14
DaemonFCit's a clusterfuck of Microsoft and Open SourceJan 14 00:15
DaemonFCa train wreckJan 14 00:15
twitterTell them that it is wrong to be forced to buy a $400 text editor.Jan 14 00:15
DaemonFCI don't know what they're doing, I don't think they do eitherJan 14 00:15
twitterThey might be making a mess on purpose.Jan 14 00:16
DaemonFCI have to keep a copy of IE 6 in Wine around for when I have to access some state websitesJan 14 00:16
DaemonFCit's terribleJan 14 00:16
twitterThe lesson to learn is that Microsoft does not mix.Jan 14 00:16

Recent Techrights' Posts

Real Security Elusive, Microsoft Layoffs to Coincide With Certificate Apocalypse
July 1
2026 is a Year of Strikes at the European Patent Office (EPO)
As it stands at the moment, to many people the EPO represents crime, not law
Only 1.5% Oppose the European Patent Office's (EPO) Strikes and Other Industrial Actions Until 2027
Among those polled/surveyed (in a ballot)
 
European Patent Office's (EPO) Strikes "at a Scale not Seen Since Battistelli", European Patent Grants Down by Over 25% in Past 3 Months
The actions are effective
Links 20/06/2026: Microsoft's "Year of Shame" and "Feed the Writers"
Links for the day
Web Browsers Are Technically Bloatware (No Matter What Runs in Them)
Don't make it a society that shames people into using a Web browser where none should be needed
Fedora Has Changed a Lot Since I Last Used It (IBM Dominates Almost Everything, IBM Agenda Displaces Community Goals)
"It is effectively 100% run by Red Hat/IBM employed people... even when they are community-elected representatives."
Andy (Cyber Show) on His Teacher Who "Squeezed Every Last Drop Out of Life, With Gratitude, Humility, Generosity and Mettle"
Some call them "eccentric" and are dismissive about what they have to offer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 19, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, June 19, 2026
Gopher/Gemini Links 20/06/2026: Slop With Tcl/Tk and Nokia 770 Perishes
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 111 Out of 200: Garrett and Graveley (the Latter Arrested for Strangling Women) Keep Ousting Their Collaboration in Litigation, Lawfare in a Foreign Continent
it's not law, it's just warfare disguised as "law"
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Lobbying in Lisbon...
reappointment campaign lobbying has not been restricted to the "home front" in Portugal
Slop Making Its Way Into Terms Where It Does Not Belong
Hopefully by year's end Google News can successfully cull (and deprive of traffic) almost all slopfarms
Links 19/06/2026: Microsoft Patent Troll Intellectual Ventures in Europe, "World Cup of Internet Resilience"
Links for the day
Links 19/06/2026: Salesforce Data Thefts and GAFAM's Conspiracy Theories That Data Center Opposition is a Foreign Plot
Links for the day
Links 19/06/2026: The Retweeting Class and Data Centres as National Security Risk
Links for the day
Don't Attack the Wives (or Spouses) of Pundits/Activists/Journalists
We will be writing several series about this in the future
Society Will Only Improve Owing to People Who Push Boundaries
Push boundaries with ideas and facts, not with forbidden language
Internet Relay Chat (Shorthand IRC) is Still Growing
Contrariwise, social control media is waning
The Register MS Published a New Page With "AI" 21 Times in It. It Was Paid SPAM.
The former editor of the The Register MS admitted to me (directly) that he knew all this "AI" stuff was stupid hype
Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Associates Dependence on a Ponzi Scheme With "the Future"
Those ludicrous ads (disguised as rankings) from WSJ deserve scorn and ridicule
The XBox Story is Still Fast-Developing, the Layoffs Are Confirmed to be Happening Already (Mid-June), Just Not "Officially"
Workers have Microsoft have long braced for what is happening this summer and will accelerate further in two weeks' time
Fake News From Rupert Murdoch's WSJ Could Not Keep IBM From Sinking
"2026 Best Companies for the Future"?
To GNU, AV2 Adoption May be a Year If Not Years Away
The leap between versions means that there is fertile ground for incompatibilities
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 18, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, June 18, 2026
Gemini Links 19/06/2026: "Born and Raised by the Internet", Fifteen Years in Gopher
Links for the day
Links 18/06/2026: Clown Computing Has Harmful Sound, Facebook "Must Face the Music (Infringement Litigation)"
Links for the day
Digital Sovereignty Discussed in the United Kingdom (UK)
Digital Sovereignty would be nice, but let's remember what contributes to it
IBM Adds Only More IBM Staff to the Fedora Council, They Like LLM Slop for Posting 'Articles'
It's like Canonical with Ubuntu, only worse
IBM Common Stock Down to About $250, It Was at $330 Just 17 Days Ago
Happy birthday IBM!
Microsoft's CEO Openly Admits XBox is Not Sustainable and Microsoft is Beginning to Admit Slop Isn't Working and Is Not Not Sustainable Either
Expect Microsoft cancellations next month (or later this month) to impact far more than XBox and some studios
EPO and Disabilities: Payments Allegedly Disabled
But people who do cocaine can claim paid "sick leave" (over 100,000 euros for no work at all) if the President sleeps with them
SLAPP Censorship - Part 110 Out of 200: Anti-SLAPP Reform Formally Advanced in the United Kingdom (UK) the Same Week the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (US) Does Forum-Shopping in the UK
The only language they understand is money. They don't understand privacy.
Links 18/06/2026: UK Social Media Ban for Minors, Finland Lifts a Nuclear Weapons Ban
Links for the day
'Article' With "AI" 27 Times in the Page, It's "Partner Content" (Paid Spam) as Usual at The Register MS
We deem this a timely reminder that a lot of the hype around slop is paid-for lies
Microsoft Layoffs Have Reportedly Already Started at ZeniMax
The overall scale is unknown
Cyber Show: "Our independence remains intact and we're set to continue relentlessly probing the world of digital technology with hard questions"
As one should
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Leveraging the Lusitanian Connection
Mendonça no longer functions as an independent agent but rather as a fig-leaf for a mafia-like entity that prizes obedience over integrity and self-preservation over truth
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 17, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 17, 2026