Fonts and a networked PC

[William]

Suppose please that a person is using an ordinary PC, which is self-contained and has a hard disc and is running Windows.

Suppose that that person downloads a font from the Gallery forum and saves it to hard disc.

The person can then temporarily install the font by double-clicking on the file and is then able to open an application program, such as Microsoft WordPad or Serif PagePlus, and try the font, by selecting the font from the list of available fonts, just as if the font had been installed permanently by copying it to the Windows fonts directory.

Suppose now that another person, perhaps a student in a university or someone in a public library, using a networked PC, has found the Gallery forum and would like to try a font.

As I understand it, though I am not certain as to whether it applies to all networks or just to some, the networked PC does not have a hard disc, yet the network allows the user to save files to what seems like the C: disc drive, yet is just a simulated hard disc that will disappear when the PC is turned off. The PC may have a floppy disc drive, so the user could save the file to a floppy disc if he or she so chooses.

Is it possible for the end user of a networked PC to try a font in an application package of the PC by way of double-clicking on the font file saved to the simulated C: drive?

William Overington

22 July 2011

[León Fridsma]

Networked pc's also have a hard-disk, and depending on the type of environment (Citrix, Windows, Linux etc) it allows a specified amount of "local storage" because programs simply need that for caching files etc... Whether a user can install a font is more dependent on the security settings and I think it is possible to load fonts (because PDF readers can display embedded fonts aswell) but not install them.

[William]

Thank you for your reply.

William Overington

23 July 2011