On a related note, why do fonts look so terrible? Surely it's not just a lack of decent, free, typefaces? FreeType is unencumbered by bytecode hinting patents as of May 2010. The only other patent (according to http://freetype.sourceforge.net/patents.html) is a Microsoft algorithm for color filtering for subpixel rendering (which, according to the page, is circumvented by using a different color filter).