Perhaps It Comes With a Free Kick in the Pants

Here’s a PR from Ascender, announcing that they’re now selling Microsoft’s Vista ClearType fonts:

Ascender Corporation, a leading provider of advanced font products, today announced a compatibility solution for Mac OS X users looking for the Microsoft ClearType fonts that are included with Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac software products. Office 2008 for Mac includes 24 fonts that were first introduced in Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007.

Ascender’s font bundle costs $299, but the home edition of Office for Mac 2008 — which Ascender itself points out comes with these same fonts — costs just $130. Am I missing something, or is this just nutty?

Update: So the font bundle from Ascender is licensed for up to five users, whereas a single Home and Student license for Office is intended for one user. So I guess it’s not that nutty. Update 2: Several readers note that the Home and Student license for Office is for up to three computers. So it is nutty.

(Thanks to Joe Clark.)

★ Tuesday, 22 April 2008