Although Font Reserve Server is still designed to work with a server running Microsoft Windows NT or 2000 operating systems, an OS X version should arrive sometime in the second quarter of this year. The software also now supports Adobe’s InDesign page layout software. That’s according to Brian Berson, president of DiamondSoft, makers of Font Reserve and Font Reserve Server. The company is among many exhibitors at this year’s Seybold Seminars at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Mass.
Font Reserve Server wasn’t shown to Macworld Expo attendees at this past January’s show. In fact, that was the first show in several years that DiamondSoft didn’t attend, Berson admitted. It’s particularly ironic, since DiamondSoft won the 2000 Macworld Eddy award for best publishing software, which was presented to Berson the night before the Expo started. Berson expects his company will be at Macworld Expo in New York this July, however. “New York’s our biggest market,” said Berson.
Font Reserve Server provides workgroups of any size with the ability to maintain license compliance, simplify workflow processes and solve other sticky technical challenges associated with font management. Berson said the software is quite scalable, and works with small and large workgroups alike.
Using an SQL database, Font Reserve Server keeps track of what fonts are available to specific users and workgroups, and provides a mechanism for making sure that careless users don’t abuse fonts. Although the server itself requires a Windows NT/2000 box (for now), the client software runs just fine on the Mac.
Administrators can add users, workgroups, sets of fonts and individual font collections. Then users with the client browser software installed can log on and add the collections of fonts they’re authorized to use.
Dependent on the industry standard TCP/IP protocol, Font Reserve Server can work with telecommuting users on dial-up connections, and even provides configurable port access for systems that utilize firewalls for network security. Font Reserve Server also sports automatic activation features for QuarkXpress and Illustrator. Berson also indicated that — for the first time — Font Reserve Server supports Adobe’s page layout application, InDesign.
Font Reserve Server also incorporates Font Sense technology, which Berson describes as a digital fingerprint for fonts. Some fonts can have the same name but can be different versions. Font Sense overcomes this problem by identifying each font uniquely by creating a tiny (only a few bytes) identifying marker used in conjunction with the font.
Berson can’t say specifically when Font Reserve Server will be available in a Mac OS X-compatible server version, but he’s confident it’ll ship in Q2. So, with any luck and with effort from DiamondSoft, Mac users should be able to get their hands on a fully Mac-specific version of Font Reserve Server in time for this summer’s Macworld show in New York.