Joey at Global Nerdy points out that the six new fonts included with Vista are also available free with Microsoft’s Powerpoint 2007 Viewer application: install Powerpoint Viewer, get the fonts.
There are better samples over on Joey’s post. I did up a document (my MBA application letter, yay!) in Constantia tonight and it’s a nice, readable body typeface; goodbye, Times New Roman! Or at least goodbye Georgia. Candara looks like a Verdana replacement, Calibria Arial. Consolas is monospace. I can’t place Corbel. I love all six. I don’t know what’s with the Cs, though.
(Also, here’s how to get the fonts out of the installer if you’re in Linux, at least. I don’t know if the same technique will work on OS X.)
6 responses to “Microsoft’s great new Vista fonts available free”
Interestingly, I’ve already had Calibri for quite a while thanks to a WoW add-on that changes the in-game font.
Yes, the exact same procedure works for OS X, replacing “aptitude” with “fink”.
It works for OS X. The cabextract program mentioned is available via fink. Alternatively, you can download it from the project’s site and compile it yourself (which you’ll need Apple’s Developer’s Tools/XCode for).
Constantia looks a little like Palatino.
Zach: Yeah, you’re right, it’s very Palatino-ish. It’s funny, because I’ve never liked Palatino, and I really like Constantia. On the other hand, my big objection to Palatino was always that it was so wide, and Constantia is quite a bit narrower, so that might be all it took to please me!
The Vista fonts have also been available since November as part of the Office Compatibility Pack.
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack