I have recently come across a great article about font rasterization:
http://www.antigrain.com/research/font_rasterization/

And I'm wondering why OpenOffice.org doesn't use that algorithm to display fonts 
in the Print Layout mode. Currently, Openoffice seems to use variable distance 
between characters to fit the pixel grid, which doesn't look good:
http://habreffect.ru/files/252/7943c2ed9/openoffice-fonts.png

Instead, horizontal hinting and pixel alignment could be disabled altogether, 
utilizing subpixel rendering to achieve three times the screen resolution in 
that direction. The article goes into great depths as to why a small resulting 
fuzziness is a small price to pay for all the benefits it could bring.

I'm going to provide several examples on what this would mean for those who are 
unwilling to read the lengthy article (though I highly recommend it).

Smooth scaling:
http://www.antigrain.com/research/font_rasterization/text_ft_antigrain.png
Legible small fonts:
http://www.antigrain.com/research/font_rasterization/sample_arial_01.png
Exact positioning (smooth font shift by 3 pixels in 30 steps):
http://www.antigrain.com/research/font_rasterization/sample_arial_1tenth_shift.p
ng
Fancy effects without bluriness:
http://www.antigrain.com/research/font_rasterization/truetype_ft_lcd_bold1.png
http://www.antigrain.com/research/font_rasterization/sample_georgia_03_distorted
.png

I think that is pretty impressive. And it is possible with modern technology; a 
sample program, written three years ago, which demonstrates the abilities of the 
algorithm, is located here:
http://www.antigrain.com/research/font_rasterization/truetype_test_02_ft.zip

It's a Windows application, but it can be compiled for Linux, too. And it runs 
fine in Wine.

So, once again, what benefits this algorithm would provide:

"1. You can kern symbols with sub-pixel precision, not worrying about 
introducing extra blurriness.
2. You can freely scale the text as you want, with 100% guarantee of preserving 
a stable text layout that always fits other graphic elements.
3. You can always be sure that the calculated text width exactly corresponds 
with what you will see on screen and paper.
4. You can apply fancy vector effects such as "faux bold" and "faux italic" 
being sure the text will not look any blurrier."

What needs to be done to achieve that:

"1. Use horizontal RGB sub-pixel anti-aliasing for LCD flat panels.
2. Use vertical hinting only and completely discard the horizontal one.
3. Use accurate glyph advance values, calculated at a high resolution for 
unhinted glyphs.
4. Use accurate, high resolution values from the kerning table."

I have asked in the freetype mailing list, and it seems that all the building 
blocks needed for this to work have been around long ago, it's just that toolkit 
or end-user application uses it yet:
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/freetype/2010-05/msg00003.html

Thanks for your attention.