The font specialists at DiamondSoft announced a Mac OS X client for Font Reserve Server, their client-server font management system, at the Macworld Conference & Expo in New York.
The client software — the Font Reserve Server Browser — will continue to be available for Mac OS 9 in addition to the Mac OS X version. The Mac OS X client, slated to ship in the third quarter of the year, is free to current Font Reserve Server users. The Font Reserve Server software for version 1.5, which debuted its Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server support this spring, will continue to be available for Windows NT and Windows 2000 workstations and servers as well.
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Font Reserve Server provides workgroups with access to fonts from a single source while allowing an administrator to manage access to fonts through permissions. With Font Reserve Server, all the fonts in the company are consolidated into a database, providing users with access via the local network or the Internet. The database communicates with Mac-based clients over TCP/IP. The administrator sets up users and workgroups and manages fonts through a Font Reserve Server Browser client on any Mac, eradicating the need to visit individual workstations to manage and troubleshoot fonts.
“Mac OS X is the future of publishing,” said Brian Berson, president and founder of DiamondSoft. “Our new client software takes advantage of the platform’s speed and stability, providing workgroups with quick, reliable font management. With the server running on Mac OS X as well, we’re now able to offer publishers a solid, single-platform solution.”
With Font Reserve Server, the administrator can divide fonts into multiple workgroups for specific positions or projects, with workgroup permissions including the ability to add, delete and export fonts. Users can have a wide range of permissions — such as the ability to share sets and include license agreement information with fonts — and belong to one or multiple font workgroups. Regardless, all changes to workgroups, including font additions, occur in real-time, guaranteeing that all users are always accessing the correct fonts.
Font Reserve Server 1.5 for US$1,200 for the server plus $130 per client connection, with special pricing available for starter packs. Starter pack pricing is $499.95 for three client connections, $799.95 for five client connections, $1,399.95 for 10 client connections, and $2,599.95 for 20 client connections.
DiamondSoft also announced an update to Font Reserve Single User. Targeted at publishing workflows based on Adobe products and Mac OS X, Font Reserve Single User provides auto-activation for popular publishing programs, support for additional font formats, and an improved method for handling system fonts. The update is slated to ship next month.
Version 3.1 provides plug-ins to automatically activate fonts for documents opened in Adobe InDesign 2.0 and Adobe Illustrator 10. Font Reserve’s auto-activation plug-ins take advantage of DiamondSoft’s proprietary Font Sense technology, which is designed to provide absolute font identification.
To ensure users can manage all their fonts with Font Reserve, version 3.1 adds support for OpenType, the joint Adobe and Microsoft cross-platform font standard. The update also adds support for Windows TrueType fonts, Apple’s datafork (dFont) fonts, and double-byte fonts for access to Asian character sets.
Font Reserve provides a System Font Handler, which solves the confusion and conflicts associated with storing and activating fonts via the many Mac OS X System Fonts folders. In version 3.1, users now have a completely automated method for moving nonessential fonts out of these folders and into Font Reserve. This update also includes an updated Font Sense XTension to provide auto-activation for QuarkXPress 5 documents.
Font Reserve 3.1, available for Mac OS X and Mac OS 9, is $89.95 for an electronic download version and $99.95 for the CD package version. DiamondSoft is offering a competitive upgrade from Suitcase or ATM Deluxe for $49.95. Registered users who have purchased Font Reserve Single User 3.0 for Macintosh are eligible for a free upgrade to version 3.1. For upgrade pricing and eligibility, visit the DiamondSoft Web site.