"Designing free, general-purpose typefaces and font tools, this
loosely organized group of typographers is starting to make graphic
design on FOSS easier, and to give ordinary users a more aesthetic
desktop. The only catch is that you sometimes have to dig to find
the free typefaces and tools, and knowing how to use them
appropriately frequently requires expert knowledge about what to
look for.
"Free fonts have been released under a variety of licenses. As
the Free Software Foundation points out on its license page,
standard FOSS licenses like the GNU General Public License (GPL)
are not really designed for fonts. In particular, the fact that
fonts are embedded in a document means that the GPL is suitable
only if the document is also released under the GPL unless an
exception is added to the license.
"Another problem is that many font designers do not want to see
their work bundled on a CD by a third party. To provide at least a
token solution to this concern, many free typographers now favour
the SIL Open Font License, a GPL-compatible license developed by
SIL International, a Christian academic organization concerned with
literacy and the preservation of minority languages."
