I was fiddling with the fonts on my Linux notebook today, and I thought, why not upgrade all the Windows-based fonts with the latest fonts from Windows 10 (preview version)? Well, something definitely got changed and I don’t think I like it.

Here is how Google looks with under my Linux with Windows 8 fonts:

And here here is how it looks with Windows 10 fonts:

In this case I’m referring to the Arial font which is used for both links and content snippets. Look at the large bold text of the links, where the hinting and/or anti-aliasing of the font seem to be off with the Windows 10 Arial font. I use the Infinality Freetype patches and have fontconfig configured to display Arial with native bytecode hinting (autohint off).

I am not a font expert, and I am hoping someone can answer me what’s wrong here. If it’s of any help, below is the relevant fontconfig output.

Arial V6.58 (Windows 8)

$ fc-match -v Arial
Pattern has 43 elts (size 48)
	family: "Arial"(s)
	familylang: "en"(s)
	style: "Normal"(w) "obyčejné"(w) "Standard"(w) "Κανονικά"(w) "Regular"(w) "Normaali"(w) "Normál"(w) "Normale"(w) "Standaard"(w) "Normalny"(w) "Обычный"(w) "Normálne"(w) "Navadno"(w) "thường"(w) "Arrunta"(w)
	stylelang: "ca"(w) "cs"(w) "de"(w) "el"(w) "en"(w) "fi"(w) "hu"(w) "it"(w) "nl"(w) "pl"(w) "ru"(w) "sk"(w) "sl"(w) "vi"(w) "eu"(w)
	fullname: "Arial"(w)
	fullnamelang: "en"(w)
	slant: 0(i)(s)
	weight: 80(i)(s)
	width: 100(i)(s)
	size: 12(f)(s)
	pixelsize: 16(f)(s)
	foundry: "monotype"(w)
	antialias: True(w)
	hintstyle: 3(i)(w)
	hinting: True(w)
	verticallayout: False(s)
	autohint: False(w)
	globaladvance: True(s)
	file: "/home/alex/.fonts/win/arial.ttf"(w)
	index: 0(i)(w)
	outline: True(w)
	scalable: True(w)
	dpi: 96(f)(w)
	rgba: 1(i)(w)
	scale: 1(f)(s)
	charset: 
	0000: 00000000 ffffffff ffffffff 7fffffff 00000000 ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0001: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0002: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0003: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff 7cffffff ffffd7f0 fffffffb ffffffff ffffffff
	0004: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0005: ffffffff 000000ff 00000000 00000000 fffe0000 ffffffff ffff00ff 001f07ff
	0006: cfffffdf ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0007: 00000000 00000000 ffff0000 ffffffff 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	0008: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00001ffd 00000000 7ffffff0
	001d: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff 000007ff c0000000
	001e: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	001f: 3f3fffff ffffffff aaff3f3f 3fffffff ffffffff ffdfffff efcfffdf 7fdcffff
	0020: fffcffff 761dfc47 40000010 83f1fc00 001f0000 07ffffff 00000000 00010000
	0021: 00c80020 00004044 78186000 00000000 003f0010 00000100 00000000 00000000
	0022: c6268044 00000a00 00000100 00000033 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	0023: 00010004 00000003 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	0025: 11111005 10101010 ffff0000 00001fff 000f1111 14041c03 03009c10 00000040
	0026: 00000000 1c000000 00000005 00008c69 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	002c: 00000000 00000000 00000000 ffffffff 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	002e: 00800000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	00a7: ff800000 00000003 00000000 00000000 00001f00 00000000 00000000 00000000
	00fb: e0000006 5f7fffff ffffffdb ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff fff80003 ffffffff
	00fc: 00000000 00000000 c0000000 0000000f 00000000 00000000 00000000 001c0000
	00fd: 00000000 f0000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 3c140000
	00fe: 00000000 0000000f 00000000 ffdf0000 ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff 1fffffff
	00ff: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 10000000
(w)
	lang: aa|ab|af|ar|ast|av|ay|az-az|az-ir|ba|bm|be|bg|bi|bin|br|bs|bua|ca|ce|ch|chm|co|cs|cu|cv|cy|da|de|el|en|eo|es|et|eu|fa|fi|fj|fo|fr|ff|fur|fy|ga|gd|gl|gn|gv|ha|haw|he|ho|hr|hu|ia|ig|id|ie|ik|io|is|it|kaa|ki|kk|kl|ks|ku-am|ku-ir|kum|kv|kw|ky|la|lb|lez|ln|lt|lv|mg|mh|mi|mk|mo|mt|nb|nds|nl|nn|no|nr|nso|ny|oc|om|os|pl|ps-af|ps-pk|pt|rm|ro|ru|sah|sco|se|sel|sh|shs|sk|sl|sm|sma|smj|smn|sms|so|sq|sr|ss|st|sv|sw|tg|tk|tl|tn|to|tr|ts|tt|tw|tyv|ug|uk|ur|uz|ve|vi|vo|vot|wa|wen|wo|xh|yap|yi|yo|zu|ak|an|ber-dz|crh|csb|ee|fat|fil|hsb|ht|hz|jv|kab|kj|kr|ku-iq|ku-tr|kwm|lg|li|mn-mn|ms|na|ng|nv|ota|pa-pk|pap-an|pap-aw|qu|quz|rn|rw|sc|sd|sg|sn|su|ty|za|lah(s)
	fontversion: 448922(i)(s)
	capability: "otlayout:arab otlayout:cyrl otlayout:grek otlayout:hebr otlayout:latn"(w)
	fontformat: "TrueType"(w)
	embeddedbitmap: False(w)
	decorative: False(s)
	lcdfilter: 1(i)(w)
	namelang: "en"(s)
	prgname: "fc-match"(s)
	hash: "sha256:7025b83c87a02c5a6182c5fd265c2a68e2f89319f0e632027561e84fd07fa8bf"(w)
	postscriptname: "ArialMT"(w)
	prefer_outline: True(w)
	do_substitutions: True(w)
	bitmap_monospace: False(w)
	force_autohint: False(w)
	qt_use_subpixel_positioning: False(w)
	font_type: "TT Instructed Font"(w)

Arial V6.90 (Windows 10)

$ fc-match -v Arial
Pattern has 43 elts (size 48)
	family: "Arial"(s)
	familylang: "en"(s)
	style: "Normal"(w) "obyčejné"(w) "Standard"(w) "Κανονικά"(w) "Regular"(w) "Normaali"(w) "Normál"(w) "Normale"(w) "Standaard"(w) "Normalny"(w) "Обычный"(w) "Normálne"(w) "Navadno"(w) "thường"(w) "Arrunta"(w)
	stylelang: "ca"(w) "cs"(w) "de"(w) "el"(w) "en"(w) "fi"(w) "hu"(w) "it"(w) "nl"(w) "pl"(w) "ru"(w) "sk"(w) "sl"(w) "vi"(w) "eu"(w)
	fullname: "Arial"(w)
	fullnamelang: "en"(w)
	slant: 0(i)(s)
	weight: 80(i)(s)
	width: 100(i)(s)
	size: 12(f)(s)
	pixelsize: 16(f)(s)
	foundry: "monotype"(w)
	antialias: True(w)
	hintstyle: 3(i)(w)
	hinting: True(w)
	verticallayout: False(s)
	autohint: False(w)
	globaladvance: True(s)
	file: "/home/alex/.fonts/win/arial.ttf"(w)
	index: 0(i)(w)
	outline: True(w)
	scalable: True(w)
	dpi: 96(f)(w)
	rgba: 1(i)(w)
	scale: 1(f)(s)
	charset: 
	0000: 00000000 ffffffff ffffffff 7fffffff 00000000 ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0001: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0002: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0003: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff fcffffff ffffd7f0 fffffffb ffffffff ffffffff
	0004: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0005: ffffffff fffeffff fe7fffff fffffffe fffee6ff ffffffff ffff00ff 001f07ff
	0006: dfffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	0007: 00000000 00000000 ffff0000 ffffffff 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	0008: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0007ffff 00000000 fffffff0
	001d: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff 000007ff c0000000
	001e: ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
	001f: 3f3fffff ffffffff aaff3f3f 3fffffff ffffffff ffdfffff efcfffdf 7fdcffff
	0020: fffcffff 761dfc47 40000010 83f1fc00 001f0000 3fffffff 00000000 00010000
	0021: 00c80020 00004044 78186000 00000000 003f0010 00000100 00000000 00000000
	0022: c6268044 00000a00 00000100 00000033 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	0023: 00010004 00000003 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	0025: 11111005 10101010 ffff0000 00001fff 000f1111 14041c03 03009c10 00000040
	0026: 00000000 1c000000 00000005 00008c69 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	002c: 00000000 00000000 00000000 ffffffff 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	002e: 00800000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	00a7: ff800000 00000003 00000000 00000000 00001f00 00000000 00000000 00000000
	00f3: 00000002 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	00fb: e0f8007f 5f7fffff ffffffdb ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff fff80003 ffffffff
	00fc: 00000000 00000000 c0000000 0000000f 00000000 00000000 00000000 001c0000
	00fd: 00000000 f0000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 3c140000
	00fe: 00000000 0000000f 00000000 ffdf0000 ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff 1fffffff
	00ff: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 10000000
(w)
	lang: aa|ab|af|ar|ast|av|ay|az-az|az-ir|ba|bm|be|bg|bi|bin|br|bs|bua|ca|ce|ch|chm|co|cs|cu|cv|cy|da|de|el|en|eo|es|et|eu|fa|fi|fj|fo|fr|ff|fur|fy|ga|gd|gl|gn|gv|ha|haw|he|ho|hr|hu|hy|ia|ig|id|ie|ik|io|is|it|kaa|ki|kk|kl|ks|ku-am|ku-ir|kum|kv|kw|ky|la|lb|lez|ln|lt|lv|mg|mh|mi|mk|mo|mt|nb|nds|nl|nn|no|nr|nso|ny|oc|om|os|pl|ps-af|ps-pk|pt|rm|ro|ru|sah|sco|se|sel|sh|shs|sk|sl|sm|sma|smj|smn|sms|so|sq|sr|ss|st|sv|sw|tg|tk|tl|tn|to|tr|ts|tt|tw|tyv|ug|uk|ur|uz|ve|vi|vo|vot|wa|wen|wo|xh|yap|yi|yo|zu|ak|an|ber-dz|crh|csb|ee|fat|fil|hsb|ht|hz|jv|kab|kj|kr|ku-iq|ku-tr|kwm|lg|li|mn-mn|ms|na|ng|nv|ota|pa-pk|pap-an|pap-aw|qu|quz|rn|rw|sc|sd|sg|sn|su|ty|za|lah(s)
	fontversion: 452198(i)(s)
	capability: "otlayout:arab otlayout:cyrl otlayout:grek otlayout:hebr otlayout:latn"(w)
	fontformat: "TrueType"(w)
	embeddedbitmap: False(w)
	decorative: False(s)
	lcdfilter: 1(i)(w)
	namelang: "en"(s)
	prgname: "fc-match"(s)
	hash: "sha256:6221a99e995347ba211b076c4193521e70d94b575288fa45299f4f26479fdb75"(w)
	postscriptname: "ArialMT"(w)
	prefer_outline: True(w)
	do_substitutions: True(w)
	bitmap_monospace: False(w)
	force_autohint: False(w)
	qt_use_subpixel_positioning: False(w)
	font_type: "TT Instructed Font"(w)