Optima was one of at least two different families of Adobe typefaces (can't remember offhand what the other one was) that were problematic in their initial Type 1 release because each font included two different versions in the same font file, one designed and drawn for low-resolution laser printers like the Apple LaseWriter family of printers and a higher-resolution version for Linotronic Imagesetters.

I have the same 3.5" floppy version and was rather frustrated that Adobe wouldn't even give me a discount on their bug-free OpenType version, let alone a free upgrade.

What I ended up doing was opening the font file in Fontographer and re-saving it under a new name, Zoptimum (for Zapf Optima) and used it for years on my LWII printers.

I wouldn't recommend using just a fresh copy of the original files on that floppy.  The problems manifest themselves in a variety of ways.

In the meantime I have become disabled and retired, so I can't justify or afford to buy the OpenType version at full price now, but for anybody in a production environment, Optima is versatile and useful enough to warrant at least considering buying the new version.

That was a particularly irritating experience for me at the time, as in effect Adobe was telling me, "yes, what we sold you was a product we now consider to be defective, but we won't make you whole."

Not what I would call a classy act on Adobe's part.  

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Wo Tai Lao Le

我太老了

EDITED: Zoptimum

Message was edited by: Tai Lao

It's great to see a post by the Big Adobe Bear himself.    It's been a long time, Dov!

Dov Isaacs wrote:

 

…due to various rendering issues and problems with non-Adobe renderers, those fonts were replaced with versions with only a single outline. The replacement of that old version of Optima with a new, simplified version of Optima occurred nearly 20 years ago. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that we did provide replacements at that time for registered licensees of Optima who experienced any issues…

I wish that had been the case, Dov, but at the time (yes, decades ago) I was told by Adobe Customer Service that Adobe was not providing a replacement or even a discount for individual licensees of Optima, only for buyers of the entire Adobe Font Folio.  They claimed they had no way of verifying individual font purchases, as opposed to applications.  (I had my sales receipt from MacConnection and the original floppy.)  Very irritating, to say the least.

It was way before customer and tech service were outsourced to India, as I remember the very apologetic young guy telling me at the time that they were located somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, either Oregon or Washington.

The problem with Optima in my case was that it became incompatible with the then-new version 4.5.1 of ATM Deluxe, a quintessentially Adobe product.

Here are my contemporary notes on the issue:

RGC (my initials) created the Zoptimum family of PS fonts on 02/14/2000 in order to work around the incompatibility of Optima with the new version of ATM Deluxe (4.5.1), which reports Optima as “damaged”—apparently due the early Optima package's two versions of the outline font [low-res and hi-res] within a single outline printer font file.

 

Zoptimum is the low-res (LW II) version of Hermann Zapf's Optima converted in Fontographer.

Anyway, good to hear from you, Dov. 

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Wo Tai Lao Le

我太老了

flgreenagel wrote:

 

…I have attached the PDF file that would not render the font correctly…

If you attached it to an email reply to the forum, be advised that nobody will see it, including Dov.  You need to send it directly to Dov at the email he provided.  Attachments sent to the forum via email simply disappear into cyberspace.

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Wo Tai Lao Le

我太老了