: Segoe UI font licensing I am planning to use the font Segoe UI (Included with Vista/Windows 7 and Office products) in my new businesses logo and website. I've tried my hardest to find out

@Dunderdale640

Closest thing I've found on a Mac is the Adobe font Myriad Pro. Here's a thought: Microsoft is reportedly getting ready to release Office for Mac 2016 (but only through subscription to Office 365, which I have). blogs.office.com/2015/03/05/office-2016-mac-preview/ Supposed to be more at parity with Office for Windows than previous Office for Mac versions.Perhaps Microsoft might be persuaded that Mac customers might be more interested if they made the same fonts available in this new release.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Karen819

I know this is an old question but still quite interesting too see that Microsoft decided not to either opensource their fonts or make them available for purchase. Unfortunately, even now it is not possible to legally use any of the Segoe UI or Segoe WP family fonts in your own materials (commercially or otherwise), it is also impossible to take the ones installed with the Windows OS and make a web fonts out of them (I tried with FontSquirrel and they are on the block list) and even if you succeeded in doing that you'd be violating the license.

So there's currently no way to use them legally in your stationery or consistently use them on web.

Other than that, I don't find those fonts anything special except for Segoe UI Light which truly is a gorgeous font, which I wanted to use a lot but as said, failed in doing so.

That's why I came up with a list of free/opensource alternatives and I publish it here for future reference and use by others.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Samaraweera207

Segoe UI is not for sale, and only available pre-packaged with certain Microsoft products. Therefore, if you don't have it already, buying a copy of Windows 7 would be a legitimate way of obtaining Segoe UI for use on the computer you install it on.

Once you have a legitimate copy of the font in your possession, feel free to use it to create whatever graphics or designs you like, including your logo. (Fonts are licensed like software, so a font license does not specify what you can do with artwork produced using the font, just as Photoshop's license doesn't specify what you can do with artwork produced using Photoshop; as long as you legally are entitled to have the font installed on your computer, you can produce any artwork you like with it).

However, embedding the font (such as by including it on a website with @font -face) would require an additional license because it would involve making and distributing a copy of the font (and providing the font file to other people's computers) which most certainly is restricted and subject to the license of the font. And you won't be able to buy such a license because Segoe UI is not available for this.

Therefore, for online or any other embedded use (such as in a PDF document, when embedding the font), I'm afraid you'll have to look for a substitute font instead.

You could if you wanted to, specify "Segoe UI" as the first choice in your CSS stack, as many people will have the font pre-installed by virtue of it being included in Windows.

For fallback, you could license any font that bears a similarity to Segoe UI (which in turn bears similarity to both Frutiger and Myriad). Or you could go for a free alternative. The font M+ 2p is a free font that's an alternative to Frutiger and/or Segoe (sample here).

Vote Up Vote Down

@Barnes313

Why not use a site such as MyFonts.com. Here you can purchase legal license for your need, and get a good quality font together with a web-font version you can use on your site.

They have optical searches too so you can probably find a font similar to Segoe.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Murray664

I contacted the Microsoft website, and I was told that Segoe UI is not available for use on non-Windows operating systems. I'm still looking for a Mac-friendly proportional typeface close enough for mockups.

Vote Up Vote Down

@BetL875

I'd have said that an OS font is usable even in commercial uses - well provided you don't distribute it or embed it in software.
I know nonetheless that if you get a font on Doze you can't install it on your Mac, you'd need to license it to install it on a Mac.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Michele215

I am not a lawyer (I just play one on TV)...but if you don't ascertain the licensing of a font, or any piece of content, then don't use it.

That being said, typically operating system fonts are only allowed for use by developers in creating their own apps, in screenshots for external documentation, and similar OS-related uses.

In addition, an operating system font is optimized for use on screen in software and not for print use.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Hamm6457569

The MS page you references quite clearly says that Ascender Corporation licenses these fonts on behalf of various vendors (Agfa Monotype, in this case). The MS link is confusing, because it links to Segoe UI Mono, not Segoe UI. Search the Ascender site using the handy search box in the upper right corner.

In the list of fonts shipped with Win7 you'll find Segoe UI v5.01 with a "License" link. Click that, and fill in the online form. Or just click the same link on the Mono page. It's the same web form either way.

Vote Up Vote Down