| Lycoris licenses technology from digital font leader Bitstream |
Jun. 10, 2004
Lycoris says it is enhancing the look, feel, and usability of the Linux desktop by licensing high quality fonts from the first independent digital font foundry foundry, Bitstream. The Maple Valley, WA-based company says it is also the first vendor to sign an agreement for advanced font technology in an open source distribution, reinforcing its commitment to customer usability and readability, and advancing the maturity of the Linux desktop. Lycoris is including Bitstream's btX2 rendering engine and a core set of 13 delta-hinted screen fonts across its Lycoris product line.
"We're trying to make it easier for developers to bring a great look-and-feel to the Linux desktop. Users have been spoiled by what they've seen on other desktop systems, and are demanding smooth, clear text that is easy to read," said Bitstream CEO Anna Chagnon, on her company's move toward supporting open source Linux technologies. "Now they can get this solution from Lycoris. It's a pleasure working with the leader in the Linux desktop consumer market."
Bitsteam's engineering team worked closely with Lycoris on software integration, ensuring that the Linux-based desktop is optimized for btX2, according to Lycoris. The technology supports native TrueType hinting and anti-aliasing, improving readability for Desktop/LX users.
btX2 provides high-quality text rendering and "fine-tunes" the look and feel of fonts on desktops, tablets, handhelds, and other devices such as PVRs and wireless devices. Described by Bitstream as the fastest font engine on the market, btX2 uses "Font Fusion" technology to render characters. The technology scales font characters on the fly, smooths jagged character edges using anti-aliasing technology, and renders "native hints" which retain distinguishing character features, according to Bitstream. The engine also supports multilingual fonts, including two-byte character sets, unicode fonts, and native encodings.
Lycoris has also licensed Bitstream's core set of "Delta-Hinted" screen fonts. Included in its Desktop/LX products are roman, italic, bold, and bold italic versions of Courier, Dutch, and Swiss, along with a symbol-based font. Bitstream's font rendering technology will be part of Lycoris's Desktop/LX Personal, Desktop/LX InterConnect, and Desktop/LX Tablet editions.
Additional theme-based font bundles are available from Lycoris. Lycoris is now offering selected Bitstream FontPaks for purchase on its website. The company is offering fonts from two Bitstream libraries.
Last year, Bitstream teamed up with Gnome to make its Vera fonts available to Linux users with a copyright that allows derivative works.
Bitstream also ships Thunderhawk, a mobile browsing technology allows anyone with an Internet or wireless connection to browse the Web anytime, anywhere, according to Bitstream. The Thunderhawk browser is currently available for Microsoft's Smartphone and Pocket PC embedded operating systems.
Related Stories:
(Click here for further information)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
