Comments on: EOTFAST: A New And Essential Product For @Font-Face Web Fonts

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02/22/10--21:15: By: Kernest Hosted Fonts Now Even More gZippy-er (chan 1577910)

[...] Internet Explorer – the fonts have been compressed by Richard Fink’s great new EOTFast tool. EOTFast is a Windows utility that takes advantage of [...]


05/30/10--19:01: By: Eric Geist (chan 1577910)

This might be an irritating question, although I suspect you've been asked this before: Any chance you'll create a Mac-native version? Perhaps a DMG instead of an EXE? That way, those of us who use Macs could stick with one platform during development. Thanks - Eric


05/31/10--14:33: By: Richard Fink (chan 1577910)

Eric, Good question and yes, it's been asked before. Here's why EOTFAST is Windows only and the eventual solution that I foresee: Monotype Imaging partnered with Microsoft on the development of EOT and holds a patent on the method for creating EOT files. However, since it's quite obvious that Microsoft has licensed the compression technology and that such licensing inheres to Windows users/developers (EOT has been a part of the Windows API's for a very long time), as long as the Windows API's are being used within a licensed copy of Windows, I can't imagine what Monotype's complaint might be. However, stepping outside Windows and creating a tool for Mac is a different story. Welcome to the world of patent law! This is also one of the reasons I've held off putting the source code on GitHub. I want it clear to anybody who contributes what the boundaries might be - nobody needs the trouble of a takedown notice, or worse. Things can go two ways: 1) I can talk to Monotype and see where they stand on the issue. You never know. And it doesn't hurt to try. 2) Ethan Dunham of FontSquirrel and I have already discussed the possibility of bringing EOTFAST online as part of the FontSquirrel generator. As long as there is a licensed copy of Windows running server-side, there too, I can't imagine what the complaint could be. So, my question to you is: would that be useful? Or is using an executable preferred? The executable has some advantages in that it can be scripted and such. I await. (And your name sounds familiar. Have we crossed paths online somewhere?) Regards, Rich


06/08/10--15:43: By: Dennis File (chan 1577910)

Hello. Norton Antivirus has continually detected EOTFast.exe as a virus using its SONAR system. I have no idea why. Does anyone know?


06/09/10--06:57: By: Richard Fink (chan 1577910)

No. But turn it off - there's no virus. Are you logged in with Administrator privileges? Lastly, my opinion of Norton is very, very low. As in, it sucks. Way too heavy-handed. Try Kaspersky or Microsoft Security Essentials (free). (Just an old desktop-tech giving you his opinion.)


08/30/10--09:03: By: Robert A. Hansen (chan 1577910)

Richard, I have attempted to download "EOTFAST" from the the "http://eotfast.com" site, and each time I click on the "FREE DOWNLOAD" button the following error message is displayed: "NOT FOUND ... the requested URL/download-j8m2.html was not found on this server. Apache/2.2 Server at eotfast.com Port 80". Actually, the first time that I attempted the download, I was presented with the survey and completed it, but I have not seen it since. I'm new messing with fonts, but I do want to learn how to embed them in web pages.


08/30/10--13:09: By: Richard Fink (chan 1577910)

Sorry for any problems. We just switched servers on that site. I'll check it out and let you know.