Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 introduce the new ClearType Collection typefaces: Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia, and Corbel. They replace the classics Times New Roman, Arial, Courier New, etc. When passing documents between systems, it's necessary to have the same: otherwise, documents look and layout may suffer. If you get an Office Open XML .docx or .pptx, chances are you need these new fonts, but OpenOffice.org, Linux, and Windows XP users need not be left out in the cold. Until Red Hat creates new metrically equivalent fonts (as it did for the older Microsoft fonts), it's easy to install these new Microsoft fonts without Vista or Office.
License
Please read the PowerPoint Viewer download page which includes this statement:
You may use the fonts that accompany the PowerPoint Viewer only to display and print content from a device running a Microsoft Windows operating system.
I am not a lawyer, but I wonder whether having Windows in dual boot or virtualization satisfies this requirement. If you want a free-as-in-speech alternative, use font replacement.
Method 1: Windows only
Just download and install PowerPoint Viewer 2007. Alternatively, you could use the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, but a much larger download. Both downloads are free and neither require Windows Genuine Advantage validation.
Method 2: cabextract (Linux only)
- Install cabextract. On Fedora, simply run this command:
sudo yum -y install cabextractOn Ubuntu run:sudo apt-get install cabextract - Download PowerPoint Viewer 2007.
- Extract the .exe:
cabextract -F ppviewer.cab PowerPointViewer.exe - Prepare a separate target installation directory:
sudo mkdir /usr/share/fonts/vista - Extract the actual fonts:
sudo cabextract -F '*.TT?' -d /usr/share/fonts/vista ppviewer.cab
Tip: You may substitute ~/.fonts instead of /usr/share/fonts for local, single-user installation which does not require root access. - Update the cache:
fc-cache -fv
Method 3: Wine (Linux only)
- Install Wine. On Fedora, simply run:
sudo yum -y install wineOn Ubuntu, run:sudo apt-get install wine - Download PowerPoint Viewer 2007.
- Install the viewer by running:
wine PowerPointViewer.exe - Install the fonts by moving them like so:
sudo mkdir /usr/share/fonts/vista cd ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts/ sudo mv {CALIBR,CAMBRIA,CANDARA,CONSOLA,CONSTAN,CORBEL}*.TT? \ /usr/share/fonts/vistaTip: You may substitute ~/.fonts instead of /usr/share/fonts for local, single-user installation which does not require root access. - Update the cache:
fc-cache -fv
Testing and comparison
Once the fonts are installed, refresh this page. Exiting the browser first may be necessary. Then, you should see the fonts change below.
Did you know that OpenOffice.org installs the Bitstream fonts?
| Windows Vista / Office 2007 | Windows 95-XP era | OpenOffice.org |
|---|---|---|
| Calibri | Arial
Arial Black |
Bitstream Vera Sans |
| Cambria |
Times New Roman Georgia Impact |
Bitstream Vera Serif |
| Candara | Trebuchet MS | |
| Consolas | Lucida Console
Courier New |
Bitstream Vera Mono |
| Constantia |
Book Antiqua
Palatino Linotype Tahoma |
|
| Corbel | Verdana |
Font replacement
This section moved and expanded to Metrical Equivalent Fonts and Font Substitution .
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18 comments:
Of course, using these fonts to compose your own documents will only increase Microsoft's monopoly. They should only be used to view documents that others have composed.
If it's not my boss or a client sending the document, I would almost prefer to have them recompose the document using one of the older fonts... or print it as a PDF if they must.
I think there are a few places where the above substitution table is misleading. Specifically, I'd make the following substitutions from old-style Windows fonts to free fonts (I offered multiples where they're very similar in look and/or metrics.)
Arial -> FreeSans, Liberation Sans, Caslon Roman, URW Helvetica or Nimbus Sans
Times New Roman -> FreeSerif, Liberation Serif, Linux Libertine or Nimbus Roman (or Gentium if you want something a little more Garamondesque)
Georgia -> Bitstream Vera Serif or DejaVu Serif
Trebuchet MS -> Lucida Sans
Lucida Console -> Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, DejaVu Sans Mono, Liberation Mono, Lucida Sans Typewriter
Courier New -> FreeMono, URW Courier
Book Antiqua/Palatino -> URW Palladio/Palatino
Tahoma -> DejaVu Sans Condensed or Toga Sans
Verdana -> Bitstream Vera Sans or DejaVu Sans
So there's really no need to be downloading pirated Vista fonts. I don't think the absence of common fonts is really an issue for free software anymore, just the lack of proprietary font names.
Linux users who want to purchase a legitimate license to use the Microsoft Office fonts can obtain them here: … http://www.ascendercorp.com/ctfonts.html
Ascender Corp is the official licensee of Microsoft's fonts for folks who want any of the new Vista & Office fonts, or any of their older fonts.
Of course, if you want to pay less than the US$300 Ascender is charging for the Microsoft font set, you could buy Office Home and Student which includes all of them and costs about half that. Not that I have any kind of beef with Ascender, since they're partially responsible for the GPLed Liberation fonts which are really nice. It just seems kind of silly to pay an extra $150 just to avoid getting a copy of Office, unless the Ascender EULA is a lot less restrictive than Microsoft's.
Legitimate versions of the 95 through XP fonts may also be obtained from corefonts.sourceforge.net, due to Microsoft going through a phase of wanting everyone to use their fonts on the web back in 1998 or so, and making the license more liberal than current offerings.
At the time of the Core Fonts release, some people warned against using the Microsoft fonts because eventually Microsoft would make the license more restrictive once they got popular, and sure enough, they did. If you doubt what the anonymous poster up above was saying about Microsoft's fonts benefiting them more than you when you use them.... that would be a pretty good example.
The file associated with Cambria regular has a typo. It is listed as CAMBRIA.TTC, so it can be extracted by something like the following:
$ cabextract -F '*.TTC' ppviewer.cab
$ mv CAMBRIA.TTC CAMBRIA.TTF
Otherwise you will have bold, italic, and bold italic, but no regular.
Josiah: Thanks for pointing out the TTC (TrueType Collection). On my system, it works fine with the .TTC extension, so I left it that way. I updated the article to move the TTC file with the TTFs.
Anonymous1, Anonymous3: Sorry. The link to a tarball with these files likely violates the license, so I must delete the comment.
Anonymous2, Raindog469: Thanks for the insights!
Andrew
Thanks for the instructions. On the site is very nerving box at the top, I guess it is not your idea to have it there.
BTW I once bought MS-fonts, for about $7,- you must only wait a bit and someone wants to sell such an official package for very little.
But if MS is the defacto standard then what is produced by MS should be readable for everyone!
"some people warned against using the Microsoft fonts because eventually Microsoft would make the license more restrictive"
I don't think they did. Do you have a reference? The MS Web fonts EULA made adding extra restrictions impossible.
Ascender also made the Android fonts for Google - which will go OS. Thanks Ascender!
I followed your instruction, copying and pasting the commands to avoid errors, but when I got to "sudo mv {CALIBR,CAMBRIA,CANDARA,CONSOLA,CONSTAN,CORBEL}*.TT? \ /usr/share/fonts/vista" I got the message "mv: target ` /usr/share/fonts/vista' is not a directory"
M. le Prof d'Anglais:
Did the previous commands succeed? Is /usr/share/fonts a directory? Which Linux do you use? Perhaps your system-wide fonts folder is not /usr/share/fonts? If so, you can either find the system-wide folder or substitute ~/.fonts for a user-level installation.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I only have words of appreciation for your work. So, thanks for the content you provide.
You have a great blog. Thank you.
Tuxero
I don't care about Microsoft's "monopoly" or who's font is prettier or cuter or whatever. If it were a true monopoly I would be using linux now.. and the entire college here wouldn't have nearly 100% apple products.
What I care about are my eyes and the headache after about an hour on Linux. I love linux and use it over everything else... The fonts,, just aren't up to par...
Since installed fonts like this..
My screen is MUCH easier on the eyes. I don't have to strain to read and I can spend more time programming and not taking ibuprofen
Thank you for this tutorial.
it all works for me but calibri and cambria dont work...ive looked around and things seem to be in the right spot..
any ideas?
Pat: Is there anything unique about your system? Which operating system? Which version of OS? Did you test in multiple applications (OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Notepad, Gedit)?
Panarchy: Thanks for your comment, but it may not legal to share those files in that way. Sorry: I had to delete it.
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