[net.sources] Join the USENET FONT CONSORTIUM and help get Hershey Fonts!

pete@octopus.UUCP (Pete Holzmann) (02/28/86)

Here's a great opportunity for net people to cooperate in accomplishing
something that could benefit many of us...

There has been some discussion on the Net recently about obtaining
machine-readable copies of the Hershey Fonts. The Hershey Fonts are
a collection of 2-D vector coordinates that describe almost 2000 different
symbols, most of which are various forms of the English alphabet. Also
included are a lot of esoteric symbols and other things (I believe greek
and cyrillic are in there, for example).

ARE YOU (OR ANYONE ON YOUR SYSTEM) INTERESTED IN HAVING A COPY? EITHER FOR
IN-HOUSE USE OR ROYALTY-FREE DISTRIBUTION IN A PRODUCT?
If so, read on...

Contents of this mailing:
	1) A description of what we're doing
	2) A 'registration' form
	3) Details on why public domain data costs bucks

It turns out that due to some quirks of the US government, the Hershey Fonts
are both in the Public Domain and also restricted in their use.  Even though
that is the case, we have recieved approval from the NTIS product manager for
a method of obtaining access to the data for anybody who is interested:

NTIS has two licensing mechanisms available:

1) A single copy of the fonts is $400. They may be enhanced (i.e. placed in
	a product) and distributed without further royalty payments. They may
	not be redistributed as-is.

2) An unlimited distribution license for the fonts costs $1600.

I am hereby forming the Usenet Font Consortium for the initial purpose
of splitting the cost of a copy of the Hershey Font data. It costs $400.
If we get 8 people at $50 each, we will get a copy and distribute it to
those who are interested. IF WE GET 32 PEOPLE AT $50 EACH, we will buy
an unlimited distribution license and post it to mod.sources (if we can
pack the data reasonably). If we get lots of people, that just lowers
the per-person cost. If we don't get enough people, well, personally it is
worth at least $100 to me to get the fonts...

I will coordinate the Consortium: collecting 'registration' forms,
seeing to it that money is properly collected and data properly distributed.

WHAT DO I WANT YOU TO DO?

Please mail a reply to me (pete@octopus.uucp or ...pyramid!octopus!pete)
indicating your interest by answering a few questions:
_____________________________________________________________________
(cut here)	USENET FONT CONSORTIUM INTEREST FORM    (cut here)
		Please mail to ...pyramid!octopus!pete
		Initial responses will be collected until 3/31/86

Who are you? (a signature line is fine)

Are you willing to chip $50 into the kitty? If not, how much?

If the Hershey Font data can't be posted in general (see below),
    would you prefer:
	- To do a direct uucp transfer
	- To get a 9-track tape
	- To get a set of PC-DOS (360K) floppies

If I get less than 8 interested people, would you prefer:
	- To back out of this thing
	- To pay a little more money (how much more?)
	- (NOTE: I have 2 people already, including myself)

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY NOW. I will collect responses, then send
mail describing what the consensus looks like, and how much it will
cost. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------

A NOTE about posting the Hershey Fonts:
They take up almost 2.5 MBytes in their distributed form, but we
believe they are distributed in very unpacked ASCII numeric form,
probably card images. If we were to distribute them to the net,
we would go to some trouble to pack the data.

AN APPENDIX to all this: How Public Domain info is restricted...

 * While NTIS is a government agency, they get no public funds; they
must support themselves by charging fees. The Hershey fonts are one of
the few things they distribute that get a high volume of requests.

 * They feel the need to "protect their market" to ensure that they
are not undercut by profiteers who would just toss the boring PhD theses and
sell the profitable stuff.  To this end they require that US requesters
pay a royalty if they wish to redistribute the data without enhancement.

 * If you enhance the data (eg package it with a graphics program,
reformat it, put it together with other software) then there is no
problem with redistributing it.

 * For the data under NTIS control, the royalty for unmodified
redistribution is three times the purchase price (total), thus since
you can buy the fonts for $400, you can redistribute as many copies as
you like for $400+$1200 = $1600.
-- 
  OOO   __| ___      Peter Holzmann, Octopus Enterprises
 OOOOOOO___/ _______ USPS: 19611 La Mar Court, Cupertino, CA 95014
  OOOOO \___/        UUCP: {hplabs!hpdsd,pyramid}!octopus!pete
___| \_____          Phone: 408/996-7746