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Font rendering on Windows

There are a lot of articles on the Internet comparing font rendering philosophies between Windows and Mac, including Damien's,  Jeff Atwood's, and Joel Spolsky's. The articles come with a vibrant set of comments that advocate one rendering philosophy over the other based on aesthetics, readability, and eye comfort.


So far I have been oblivious to the difference, since I have been using the Mac exclusively for the last 15 years. But with my recent switch to Windows the rendering difference popped up, and it was not the font aesthetics since the font rendering on both platforms looked good to me.


Rather I noticed that I can read on Windows for a long period of time without my eyes getting tired. On the Mac I needed AntiRSI or Timeout to help me take work breaks every half hour to alleviate eye soreness. After I switched to Windows I have not had a need to search for their equivalents.
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