some XFree86 5.0 questions... Xft2 and STSF

As a case example of how well the X community handles rapidly changing new
technologies, this subject of typography deserves better than anecdotal coverage.

The compelling motivations to move up to STSF are:

        1. Universal API's in support of all independantly developed
font scalers and layout engines.  This is a requirement for
internationalized, bi-directional, lcd-optimized, and high-quality deployments.
Pango/Xft2 are hardwired to specific engines which are insufficient for
these requirements.  Perhaps it is the input of the engineers responsible
for the I18N contributions to X.ORG and Xfree86 that makes these
issues so visible to us.  The goal is proliferation of GNOME waay beyond  
English-speaking peoples.

        2. Server-side and Client-side-capable  render and layout processing,
which allows hardware exploitation and performance/scalability gains on
platforms other than single-user PC's, or does everyone expect that their
laptop, desktop, and what-evertop will look the same in 2 years as it does
today?

        3. Operating system-agnostic structure that is portable beyond
Linux and Unix. It is portable to Windows too. The potential for one
Typography API, everywhere.

A fair evaluation would include knowledge of the STSF specification 
http://stsf.sf.net and knowledge of its broader design goals.

We are preparing a white paper comparing Xft2 and STSF features at length.

-- 
Stuart Kreitman
Sun Microsystems Inc. - X Window System Development