Sorry, but I don't really understand your post. The fact that an idea is old doesn't mean it's outdated or useless - the patents in question cover functionalit

Sorry, but I don't really understand your post. The fact that an idea is old doesn't mean it's outdated or useless - the patents in question cover functionality that is a major part of Apple's TrueType file format, and FreeType was using an algorithmic workaround to get a similar effect while avoiding the patent (see: http://www.freetype.org/patents.html http://www.freetype.org/patents.html). It's also likely that these patents also apply to the later OpenType format, which was derived from TrueType. The cause of "fuzzy fonts" complaints in Windows is ClearType, which is a implementation of sub-pixel rendering, which is rather different from the broader concept of hinting. The Sharp Fonts website seems to be simply about installing Microsoft's Webfonts on Linux, although it does mention the issue of them looking poor if BCI is disabled in FreeType due to these now-expired patents.