Microsoft ClearType Font Collection Now Available for License from Ascender Corporation

Ascender Corporation, a leading provider of advanced font products for hardware & software developers, today announced that they have entered into an agreement with Microsoft which enables Ascender to distribute the Microsoft ClearType Font Collection directly to end users.

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. (BusinessWire EON) June 7, 2007 -- Ascender Corporation, a leading provider of advanced font products for hardware & software developers, today announced that they have entered into an agreement with Microsoft which enables Ascender to distribute the Microsoft ClearType Font Collection directly to end users.

We are proud that Microsoft has selected Ascender to offer their fonts. Microsoft has made a tremendous investment in their ClearType technology and in these fonts. Their willingness to make these fonts available outside of their new flagship products which incorporate these fonts is impressive

The Microsoft ClearType Font Collection contains six new typeface families, each with regular, italic, bold and bold italic styles. These fonts were carefully specified and cooperatively designed under the direction of Microsoft’s Advanced Reading Technologies team by leading type designers, consultants and font software engineers to significantly improve the on-screen reading experience through a combination of design iteration and by leveraging Microsoft’s ClearType technology. Each of the 24 fonts contains extended multi-language support (including Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts), advanced OpenType typographic features and specialty character sets.

“When our Advanced Reading Technologies team first approached me in 2003 with the idea to develop a new collection of fonts I was intrigued. This collection could enable Microsoft to both leverage the great work done with our ClearType technology and bring a fresh new set of high-quality fonts to our environments. The ClearType Font Collection has surpassed my expectations in both respects and I am thrilled that we have been able to make such a significant contribution to both on-screen reading and typography in general.” said Bill Hill, Chief Reading Technology Researcher, Microsoft Corporation.

The 24 fonts in the collection are featured in Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. This agreement makes these fonts more broadly available for license in any operating system by individuals, graphic designers and businesses.

“We are proud that Microsoft has selected Ascender to offer their fonts. Microsoft has made a tremendous investment in their ClearType technology and in these fonts. Their willingness to make these fonts available outside of their new flagship products which incorporate these fonts is impressive,” said Ira Mirochnick, President of Ascender Corporation. “The ClearType fonts will appeal to a wide spectrum of users, especially those users seeking fresh, high-quality designs or document compatibility with Microsoft’s new products.”

Each typeface family in the Microsoft ClearType Font Collection has its own personality and flair that are the hallmark of their particular designer:

• Calibri, designed by Luc(as) de Groot, is a sans serif design with a rich soft character that makes the font suitable for documents, email and Web design. Calibri is the new default sans serif font in Microsoft Office 2007.

• Cambria, designed by Jelle Bosma with Steve Matteson & Robin Nicholas, is a serif design suitable for business documents. Ross Mills designed Cambria Math, featuring an extensive character set for mathematical, scientific and technical publications. Cambria is the new default serif font in Microsoft Office 2007.

• Candara, designed by Gary Munch, is lively but not intrusive sans serif design suitable for email, Web design and informal settings.

• Consolas, designed by Luc(as) de Groot, is a monospaced font (like an old typewriter) and good for programmers setting code (its core purpose).

• Constantia, designed by John Hudson, is a modulated wedge-serif design ideal for e-book and journal publishing both online and in print.

• Corbel, designed by Jeremy Tankard, was designed to give an uncluttered and clean appearance on screen.

The Microsoft ClearType Font Collection is available now for purchase and download from the www.ascendercorp.com website.

More information on the Microsoft ClearType Font Collection, including an 18 page guide to the development and use of the typefaces can be found here: http://www.ascendercorp.com/ctfonts.html

About Ascender Corporation

Ascender Corporation is a leading provider of advanced font products specializing in font design, development and licensing. Ascender’s founders are font industry experts, and have been involved in developing some of the most important and influential fonts used in computers, phones and consumer devices. Ascender provides multilingual, custom font development for enterprises and hardware & software developers. Ascender also provides high quality fonts for immediate download from the Ascender Font Store website (www.ascenderfonts.com).