"so how about we pull the plug on this one???" How about you stop reading the thread and let anyone who want to discuss it continue to do so? :)

Ahhh........... youre right S H. My participation in this thread is no longer required since I have thoroughly DEFEATED the gratuitous assertion that Windoze is a superior platform based on the number of useless software titles compiled each year for it. consider me out. HAPPY TRAILS!!

Easy as cake. RenderMan, the professional renderer used by Pixar for stuff like "A Bug's Life" is PC and UNIX, no Mac (not even OS-X). Refelx DRAMA, the first (and AFIK only) off-the-shelf bones/muscles/fat/skin character modeller and animator is PC only. Pro/ENGINEER, the 3d CAD and solid modeller that every car and aerospace company in the world uses to design their is PC and UNIX, with PC as the dominant Pro/E platform. AutoCAD, the most popular 3D CAD in the world (so many buildings, auto parts, etc. designed with AutoCAD) is PC only. I'll grant that the Mac's a viable 3D tool, in the advertising industry. Now, "since I have thoroughly DEFEATED the gratuitous assertion that" Windows isn't the dominant 3D platform, I think I'll see if I can go get some time on the Reflex DRAMA beta. Time to have some fun... btw. for whoever mentioned BSD, OS-X is "Mach" based...

"Maybe we have a different idea of 'recently'? I am not trying to be a smart ass. Adobe has licenced it's fonts abilities to the Windows platform in the form of ATM (Adobe Type Manager) for at least the last 6 years that I know of (I ran it on Windows 95). Thus, the PC has had the ability to use Postscript fonts for quite a while now. Am I missing something? It is true that some houses still charge more for PC output - but that is only if you hand them the files in the native format of the software. it has been my experience and that of my clients that if you turn a properly formatted and pre-flighted EPS or PS file to a printer they don't have any interest in the platform/software that generated it - nor should they." I am not sure what the ATM has to do with the actual fonts in question. I am also sick as a dog right now so I am not thinking the clearest to understand, but ATM is a processing tool for fonts. They are not the fonts in question. Adobe Helvetica, Adobe Garamond etc. Actual fonts with names that correspond to actual printing industry fonts. That is why there is Arial. It is the PC version of helvetica since they couldn't get the license to use a real version since the font houses only wanted postscript capable fonts. There may be better capabilities and you can Postsript to PC's now but I don't think they have access to the thousands of printer/postscript fonts out there. I may be wrong or outdated though but I do know that most PC files I get at work are screen only and we have to convert them. Take care

Thanks for the reply Ghost, I appreciate the info :) Basivally, ATM lets Windows use postscript fonts "straight" without conversion, Adobe also sells the full library of Adobe fonts for use ont he PC - so the font sets are as "official" as any I have seen on the Mac int hat regard. Granted, MS didn't license the Adobe fonts - but that's simply because the Adobe price was far too high to include the fonts into the OS. Thus we have Arial and friends. Anyway, thansk for the post!

There's a "side story" to that. When Windows first acquired TrueType (back in the Windows 3.1 days) Microsoft only included three font familys, the basic clones of Helvetica, Times, and Courier. They then proceded to offer a cheap ($40, I believe) set of fonts that gave you clonse of the rest of the standard Postscript 31 fonts (ITC Avant Garde, etc). Within two years, just from ridiculous volumes of this font set, Microsoft became the best selling type foundary in the world. They have since lost this position.