OPENtype

Developed primarily by George Williams until 2012, "FontForge is free and open source software. What does this mean for the user? First, it means that you can download and install FontForge wherever you like, as many times as you like, and use it with no restrictions.

Second, and ultimately more importantly, it means that the application is written and maintained by a community of people whose only responsibility is to the project itself. If you run into a problem using FontForge, including those occasions when FontForge is missing a feature you would like, you can bring your problem directly to the programmers that maintain the application. Feel free to ask questions, request new features, or ask why things work the way they do. As a FontForge user, you are just as much a part of the community as everyone else, and your participation will only make FontForge better for everyone-even if you are just getting started."
These characteristics also highlight the concept of free culture.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BUILD A TYPE?

AREA
CONTOUR
FILL
CONTRAST
REPETITION
ALIGNMENT
PROPORTION

Font design is the process of iteratively testing the individual choices that collectively add up to a complete design. You will be testing your font to see if the combination of decisions you have made:

-allow you to read the font;
-make the font feel right to you;
-make the font useful for the the jobs you want the font to be able to do;

One example of type designer who did several projects on type design using Fontforge and who also contributed to the development of the software is Dave Crossland. As an individual he supports the free culture movement enhancing the equality between the users and the "author" of the product.

He considers that some of the "free culture" values and benefits are:

-use software without any limits;
-modify software, so having access to all the source files;
-share, or commercially redistribute, modified or exact copies;
-participate in deciding the future direction of the software;