🚀 go-pugleaf

Victor, Dominic, Simon: 

Frankly, if you're using the right tools, it's no harder to work with OpenType than any other format. When I'm in FontLab 4 and trying to make accented characters and such, I rarely notice the difference between OpenType and other formats. It just isn't such a big deal. However, it certainly will take time before the same variety of freeware and shareware tools beloved of font hackers are available for OpenType. 

OpenType certainly does empower type designers in terms of creativity. But the format doesn't offer any extra protection against being ripped off in any way. Nada. Zilch. 

As for Adobe's future OpenType development plans, we generally find it easier to develop PostScript outlines because that's what our existing infrastructure is centered around. But we support both kinds of OpenType fonts equally in our applications, and many of our proofing tools work with both. 

For ease of conversion, it depends on your tools and what you consider to be conversion. If you include adding characters as well as digital signatures and layout features, then it really doesn't matter which format you start with. You're going to have to use a font editor, and the main player these days (FontLab) makes it equally easy regardless of the outline format. 

Regards, 

T