Helvetica on Windows?

Helvetica isn't a free typeface. You can buy it from Adobe, but it's quite expensive.

Both of you are wrong, in one sense or another...

Helvetica was designed over 50 years ago by Linotype, which was acquired by Monotype several years ago. Adobe has nothing to do with licensing Helvetica. You can buy a license to use Helvetica from one of Monotype's resellers, which includes Adobe, or pick a reseller from Monotype's web site. Licenses for this font start at around $29 for one font, and families of Helvetica can run well over $1000. Buying a license doesn't mean you "own" a font - it belongs to the foundry that licenses it.

Apple has been licensing Helvetica (and the other original Mac "core" fonts) since 1990, around the time I used my first Mac in college, and the fonts installed with OS X. I favored Palatino, personally. I generally subscribe to a service, currently Adobe's Creative Cloud, that includes the licenses I need at the time.

You can't "port" or "copy" one of those fonts from one platform to another, it doesn't work that way, and it's not legal. You might be better off choosing a cross-platform font, or ponying up for the font(s) you want. Keep in mind that cross-platform fonts can render differently between platforms, but that's another story.

campyguy said:

Both of you are wrong, in one sense or another...

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No, I'm not wrong. Licensing fonts is no different than "buying" any other software, but we typically aren't quite so pedantic when discussing it.

If you've licensed fonts, and read the terms of the license then you'd know it's not like software licensing. And, I'm not being excessively precise in my post - you can't buy the font from Adobe. Sheesh.

campyguy said:

If you've licensed fonts, and read the terms of the license then you'd know it's not like software licensing.

Click to expand...

Actually, I have done both. The license agreements for type from Adobe and anything else they offer are largely the same. Neither type nor applications are technically sold to an end user.

Picking nits, eh? Helvetica isn't Adobe's to sell or licence - it's Monotype's. That was my point with your OP. Look, I've got a life and the point of the thread has been made. Bye.