A tangent:

If you make a font with outlines and bitmaps, you can give away the bitmap-only version, get people hooked, and charge for the version that has outlines with the bitmaps embedded.

This is yet another way that bitmaps are superior to [delta-]hinting.

hhp

I don't/can't know when Spiekermann had the idea, but I've been saying it on-and-off here-and-there for about 2 years now.

The impediments:
1. The main ground in bitmap font design is already saturated - innovations like Jens's NNF cannot have great penetration in the mainstream.
2. The next leap in bitmap design seems to still be unimplementable, technically - even BitFonter falters there.

> only a font's outlines are propietary

I'm not sure what you mean. Are bitmaps not legally protected, maybe because they're not "software", and for some strange reason outline fonts are? Not that our legal systems (especially the one in the US) make any sense, but I think at best this is a gray area, especially when you consider that increasingly just plain data (like in a database) is starting to be seen as Intellectual Property.

In any case, since the bitmaps in a font cannot be easily extracted (certainly not if it's done through delta-hinting), this is a moot point. There has to be a multiple-version scheme - and naming gets tricky there, btw.

hhp

Erik Spiekermann shared a similar insight with us recently- one that we had never heard before. Apparently only a font's outlines are propietary, where you can give away the bitmap for free.

To embellish Jared's point:

Erik mentioned the purpose of this was intended
to allow multiple people to work on a project
(e.g. editing or copy-fitting) without having to
procure additional licenses.

I hadn't thought of the potential application for
Web use.

I do think, however, that in order for mass
adoption (to the level of Verdana, Arial, Times
and Georgia) the font needs to come pre-installed
on an OS or bundled with a browser.

No.

hhp