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russf90438078
russf90438078
Participant
April 9, 2018
Answered

Adobe Type Basics

  • April 9, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 6117 views

Where can I download Adobe Type Basics? I can no longer find a link on the Adobe site.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Dov Isaacs

    The only font products that Adobe directly licenses are the Adobe Font Folio products. For purchases of licenses for individual Adobe original typefaces or font families, go to https://www.fontspring.com/foundry/adobe.

    That having been said, the Adobe Type Basics collection of fonts is no longer available for licensing or for download.

              - Dov

    2 replies

    J
    Juergen0D44
    Participating Frequently
    September 25, 2020

    Hello, I work in music publishing, and work collaboratively with two colleagues in an effort to create a music typesetting program that would enable "legacy files" of a defunct, 16bit MS-DOS music typesetting program to be read and editable. This particular MS-DOS app, given the technology at the time, made provisions only for postscript type 1 fonts. Specifically, it allowed reference to all type 1 fonts contained in the Adobe Type Basics set.

    By now, the type 1 fonts in this Adobe set are deprecated. In our current software development, we are drawing to screen via postscript, but to display these legacy fonts, we have to rely on emulated fonts, which is less than ideal, and a serious obstacle to processing legacy files properly.

    My question pertains to licensing. Given that the postscript versions of the Adobe Type Basics set are no longer available for purchase and download, would we be able to embed these fonts in our envisioned release of the new software, without violating copyright and licensing restrictions? The original EULA, under "Transfer," states:

    "You may not, rent, lease, sell, sublicense, un-bundle and/or repackage for distribution or resale ..."

    Do you have any insight? Many thanks!

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    September 25, 2020

    "would we be able to embed these fonts in our envisioned release of the new software, without violating copyright and licensing restrictions?" Absolutely and completely not! Licenses and copyright do not expire just because something is no longer sold. This is true of all old software, but doubly true of fonts, which can still be purchased in another form. This could be a very expensive mistake. (Caveat: I don't speak for Adobe).

    J
    Juergen0D44
    Participating Frequently
    September 25, 2020

    Thank you for that; the reason for my asking is precisely because I know of no "release" into the public domain of these fonts as POSTSCRIPT type 1 fonts (not their open type equivalents); and I will need to track down some definitive answer as to Adobe's stance toward this deprecated set. I found a press release statement, dated May 1996, that stated, "A free (GNU Licensed) commercial-quality set of the basic 35 PostScript Type1 fonts is now finally available," but from that statement it is not clear to me whether this refers to the actual Adobe set, or the emulated set that forms part of Ghostscript (I suspect the latter). An online chat with some at Adobe has proved totally useless today... does anybody here know if Adobe has removed the licensing requirements? The set itself otherwise has no commercial value.

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
    Legend
    April 9, 2018

    The only font products that Adobe directly licenses are the Adobe Font Folio products. For purchases of licenses for individual Adobe original typefaces or font families, go to https://www.fontspring.com/foundry/adobe.

    That having been said, the Adobe Type Basics collection of fonts is no longer available for licensing or for download.

              - Dov

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
    russf90438078
    russf90438078Author
    Participant
    April 10, 2018

    Thank you for the response. Strange that I'm no longer allowed to download a product I've licensed, and which should still work with current operating systems, but them's the breaks....

      Dov Isaacs
      Dov Isaacs
      Legend
      April 10, 2018

      Actually there were a few different Adobe Type Basics packages over the years, the first of which included Type 1 fonts, the latest of which included OpenType CFF fonts.

      I understand your angst about not being able to download a product that you licensed years back, but Adobe licenses do not guarantee that a download link will be available for the indefinite future afterwards, especially for these font products which didn't have any serial numbers associated with them. Quite frankly, this is exactly the scenario in which we continually advise any and all computer users to regularly backup their systems so that they can access old files.

                - Dov

      - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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