Microsoft rep confirms Calibri font was available in 2004
A Microsoft representative confirmed to Gizmodo that the font was available in pre-release form
LAHORE: (Web Desk) – A Microsoft representative on Wednesday told Gizmodo that the Calibri font was ‘available in a pre-release form all the way back to 2004’. The representative wasn’t able to verify the exact date but confirmed that it could have been available in 2004 as well.
The website claimed that it had reached out to a Microsoft representative who confirmed the availability of the font. The representative said that the font was available ahead of 2007 official release but it didn’t mean that the font was completely inaccessible.
However, it is also worth mentioning that it was highly unlikely that the font would be used by someone in a pre-release form because such versions are generally available to the developers and high-end users and the font was unlikely to have been used for some random document in 2006.
Talking to Dawn, a representative of Lucas de Groot, the Dutch designer behind the font, said that ‘early Windows betas are intended for programmers and technology freaks to see what works and what doesn’t... As the file size of such operating systems is huge, it would have been a serious effort to get’.
Panama JIT report: Was #Calibri font available before 2007?
A lot has been discussed about the availability of Calibri font before 2007 and one of the arguments of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in its Panama case report that the declarations provided by the Sharif family members from 2006 contain this font which wasn’t commercially available before January 31, 2007. “Neither of the originals of the certified declarations is correctly dated and happy to have been created at some later point in time,” JIT report states.
Excerpt from Panama JIT report in SC
When the question was placed in front of tech experts at a question and answer website Super User, a moderator David Postill responded saying it is easy to prove that one had access to certain font before the official release date. “The answer to which is clearly yes, they could have had access. That is easy to prove, however, the opposite isn t … To prove a forgery you would have to prove that the forger could not have access to the font. That is well nigh impossible to prove (beyond all reasonable doubt).”
He reasoned his argument with facts these facts; Calibri font was made public in 2014 while the copyright of this font in version 5.0 lies in 2006 because a public review of the new fonts (including Calibri), A Comprehensive Look at the New Microsoft (Vista) Fonts, was posted on June 5, 2006. It was a part of the 2006 released Windows Vista in beta version owing to pre-release. Calibri font might also have been available through Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN).
Another responder Mokubai differed with Postill’s argument saying, “There may have been some period of RTM before official release, but when one person or another had access is impossible to know from such little information.”
