Microsoft stops TrueType core fonts for the Web download section

[luma]

Microsofts TrueType core fonts for the Web [microsoft.com] were discontinued August, 12. No more Andale Mono, Arial, Arial Black, Comic Sans MS, Courier New, Georgia, Impact, Lucida Console, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Verdana, Webdings, Windings, ... fonts for non-Microsoft/non-MSIE OS. :( I guess lots of Linux users were downloading them to use them with local truetype servers, like xfstt.

According to a typographica interview with Microsoft [typographi.ca], most users already have these fonts and they are shipped with rece
nts versions of Microsoft and MSIE. Some companies were usings these truetype fonts in violation of Microsoft's EULA in commercial software.

Well, I think they did it to bully the Linux crowd. ;) Are there any good free truetype fonts available?

I think it's quite sad, cause lots of web designers use Verdana, Helvetica, Comics Sans MS in their HTML and CSS without even knowing that Linux and Mac users don't have them.

[mivox]

Any Mac user with Internet Explorer (and that's most of us) or Microsoft Word (and that probably covers the rest of us) will have those fonts... so it's only the Linux folks getting left out in the cold.

And... hehehe... as so many people say, when trying to find an excuse for not supporting NN4 or Macintosh platform, etc., "There's so few of them, they ought to be used to it by now, so why bother?"

<added>If you search for "free fonts" anywhere, you'll be drowning in them... but it won't do much good, since so few of your site visitors are likely to have the same fonts. 'Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans serif' and 'Times, "Times New Roman", "New York", serif' are still the safest two font sets I know of.</added>

[c3oc3o]

The Codestyle Font Sampler (I'm too afraid of posting links here *frightened glance at moderators*) reports:
Mac Users: 94% Arial, 92% Verdana, 89% ComicSans, 78% Georgia
Unix Users: 92% Arial, 69% Verdana, 62% ComicSans, 54% Georgia