Licenses

[Imacharacter]

Hello all.

I am considering purchasing a license, either Home or Professional.
Can anyone tell me what the duration of these licenses are?

Will I be required to renew a license every year?

-Thanks

[vanisaac]

The license does not expire, but it is only good for a given major version of the program (6.x). If a new major version comes out within a given time (1 year, Erwin?) then you will get an automatic upgrade. I am currently on a license that I got over five (!) years ago. It's no good for the latest version, but really every version of the program works great - with a few minor technical compatibility updates - and will continue to do so for as long as Windows continues backward compatibility.

The question is not of a license expiring, but whether I want to upgrade in order to get access to more advanced features. I'm personally waiting for OpenType support, given the use to which I am putting this program. Microsoft VOLT can be a pain in the butt, and I'd prefer to have an integrated tool. For now, I deal, but I know it's only a matter of time before FCP has native support for what I need, and I'll be first in line when that time comes.

[Dick Pape]

I'm second. I'm second! DPape

[William]

Which is interesting, as I am interested in making OpenType fonts with automatic ligatures, use of the rand facility for randomized glyphs (of which OpenType facility I first learned about in a thread in this forum a few days ago) and for swash alternates and I am also interested in having budget price application software that can make full use of fonts that have such features.

Unfortunately there appears to be a culture in various places that such things as the above are a minority interest with only a very few people wanting them. I wonder on what basis those beliefs have arisen.

William Overington

11 February 2010

[vanisaac]

Unfortunately there appears to be a culture in various places that such things as the above are a minority interest with only a very few people wanting them. I wonder on what basis those beliefs have arisen.

It's based on the fact that there is such little support for them, that the natural constituency of such things does not know of their existence, and even fewer understand the power and functionality of these features. As such, it is encumbent upon the minority to request support, so the larger population can be exposed. At some point, the linear function will turn exponential. The question is when, but we can keep asking for support until then.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Unfortunately there appears to be a culture in various places that such things as the above are a minority interest with only a very few people wanting them. I wonder on what basis those beliefs have arisen.

See this response on the Serif forums, by the PagePlus Project Manager.

It is an uphill battle to persuade developers to support this. They are right, though, it is appreciated by a very small minority of users — I would guess less than 1% of users would use it, and less than 5% of users fully understand the benefits of OpenType features.

You should see some of the comments about Optical Justification on the Serif Forums.