The vast majority of typefaces used on websites are Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, and Georgia. It’s getting boring and it’s in large part because Microsoft, which successfully produced and distributed out the beautiful first and last of these fonts, have been sitting on their hands. (Many have argued that their hands have been tied by, alternately or all together, their engineers, Google, lawsuits, competitors, customers, hackers, journalists, and Apple).
A few new typefaces are coming out soon because of Microsoft’s new OS and they have been shamefully coy in their release of information about these typefaces. Some details can be found. (A number of these fonts look like takes on the consitently beautiful Lucida Grande typeface that litters Mac browser windows.)
Apparently, these fonts may not be as widely disseminated as Verdana and Georgia. But it looks like they will be usable on a Mac, if they are indeed distributed.
Finally, a few people tried to make them downloadable and they have been asked to take them down.
I won’t hold my breath but it sure would be nice if Microsoft would step up to the plate and make Web typography more interesting, variable, sophisticated and formidable. No further information can be found at Microsoft’s Longhorn/Vista page.