
Consolas is now open source - yura
https://github.com/PiotrGrochowski/Consolas
======
foobandit
There's something really strange happening here. It looks like a few days ago
someone anonymously edited the wikipedia page to add a designer and claim it's
open source, linking to the Github page that was just created a few minutes
before:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Consolas#Open_Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Consolas#Open_Source)?

~~~
vortico
And the reply is hilarious. It's a screenshot of his conversation with
Microsoft technical support.
[https://i.redd.it/9zkgslagked21.png](https://i.redd.it/9zkgslagked21.png)
This is either a troll or someone who's gone off the deep end.

~~~
sdinsn
He seems unstable...

------
oxguy3
There's no license listed, so it may be "open source", but it's not FOSS
(which is what people usually mean by "open source"). It's tagged "public
domain", but I wouldn't go off a tag for a license statement. The only actual
license I can find is in the font files' metadata: "(c) 2018 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved." I don't even know who Piotr Grochowski is
or if he actually works for Microsoft/has permission to relicense this font.

It's also not open source in the sense that there's no source -- he's just
using the repository as a dropbox for each final version of the compiled font
file. The uncompiled versions of each character aren't there, and I can't
track changes through the commit history. Here's an example of what an open
source font repo should look like:
[https://github.com/konpa/devicon/](https://github.com/konpa/devicon/)

If this really is from Microsoft (which I'm doubting more and more) and
they're trying to make Consolas open source, I'm all for it, but there's more
to open sourcing something than just dumping it onto GitHub.

------
bdcravens
There is no clear explanation in the README why it is open sourced, nor is
there a license file. Being in possession of the files, or being on Github,
doesn't necessarily make something open source.

~~~
Skunkleton
It is open source by virtue of the source being available. There is just no
license that allows redistribution or derivative works.

~~~
vortico
That's called "source available", not "open source". At least according to the
OSI. [https://opensource.org/osd](https://opensource.org/osd)

~~~
vbezhenar
It's not even that. Old Windows sources are available via torrents. That does
not attach any kind of open source license.

------
svnpenn
DONT INSTALL THIS.

If you use consolas with cmd.exe on Windows this new font will break it. the
font is stuck in italic mode in the console. for anyone foolish enough to
install this font, first delete __all __Consolas fonts from Control panel.
then gather correct fonts using virtual machine:

    
    
        copy C:\Windows\Fonts\consola.ttf .
        copy C:\Windows\Fonts\consolab.ttf .
        copy C:\Windows\Fonts\consolai.ttf .
        copy C:\Windows\Fonts\consolaz.ttf .
    

[https://github.com/PiotrGrochowski/Consolas/issues/2](https://github.com/PiotrGrochowski/Consolas/issues/2)

------
dijit
But, what is the license?

There's multiple references to it being "open source" but no license to back
it.

~~~
vbezhenar
I've opened old sfd file which is long text file and the only license
information I've found is something like this:

2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft: Consolas Bold
Version 7.00 Consolas is a trademark of the Microsoft group of companies
Microsoft Corporation Luc(as) de Groot
[http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ctfonts](http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ctfonts)
[http://fontfabrik.com](http://fontfabrik.com) Microsoft supplied font. You
may use this font to create, display, and print content as permitted by the
license terms or terms of use, of the Microsoft product, service, or content
in which this font was included. You may only (i) embed this font in content
as permitted by the embedding restrictions included in this font; and (ii)
temporarily download this font to a printer or other output device to help
print content. Any other use is prohibited.
[http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.aspx](http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.aspx)

Another file (consolasboldmod8.2.sfd) has this text: "Copyright: (c) 2018
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." which I believe is not open
source either.

Some files have empty copyright, some files have string "Copyright: Consolas
is rightfully public domain it isn't copyrighted by Microsoft or anything". I
believe there should be some additional cleanup work to be done.

------
sh87
> Open source is the future [...] Consolas [...] became open source as a
> result of future.

WTF does that even mean ?!

~~~
cormacrelf
Someone has come back in time to open-source Consolas and kill Hitler. And
they're all out of Hitler.

~~~
sh87
"result of future" is by far the wackiest phrase I've come across this year.

------
runxel
No Italics? Oh no no. Not like this.

I've to admit I'm a user of Consolas and actually prefer it over all these
alternatives
([https://app.programmingfonts.org/](https://app.programmingfonts.org/)). One
reason: I like the italics. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

------
sdinsn
> _from a Microsoft employee_ WHY THE HECK IS IT OPEN SOURCE?!

> Open source is the future, whether you like it or not. Consolas is one of
> the things that became open source as a result of future.

It seems like he made it open source without permission...

------
DBX12
This stuff must be real, a conversation with a Microsoft assistant happened
and there is no way someone modified the chat messages via "Inspect element"

Obvious /s of course

------
notatoad
am i missing something, or is there no actual source files in this "open
source" release?

~~~
vortico
.sfd files are the "source" for fonts made with FontForge.
[http://fontforge.github.io/en-
US/documentation/developers/sf...](http://fontforge.github.io/en-
US/documentation/developers/sfdformat/)

~~~
seba_dos1
It's also worth noting that .sfd files can be created by importing .ttf files.

~~~
vortico
...which is certainly how this post came about.

