Windows Vista's XPS more than just a PDF competitor

by Greg Shultz | Aug 04, 2006 1:10:00 PM

Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Printers, Operating systems, Greg Shultz, XPS Document, XPS, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista, printer, subsystem, Adobe PDF

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Takeaway: Greg Shultz examines Windows Vista's PDF-like creation technology, called XML Paper Specification (XPS). Find out why he notes that XPS is more about improving Windows Vista's printing capabilities than about creating a Microsoft-branded PDF competitor.

Windows Vista has so many compelling technologies, that I never really paid all that much attention to its PDF-like creation technology, called XML Paper Specification (XPS, for short). I've noticed it as a Printer option in all of the Print dialog boxes in Windows Vista.

I always figured that I'd investigate it in more detail at a later point in time after I was finished looking at Windows Vista's other big ticket items. Then, I began encountering news stories with headlines containing the words "XPS," "Adobe," "European Union," and "antitrust" and decided that the time had come to do some more investigation into XPS. What I discovered was that XPS is much more than just a PDF competitor.

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It's in the graphical subsystem

First, I must confess that the details about XPS are not breaking news and that the information has been out there all along�albeit a bit off the beaten track. It's just that there have been so many other exciting things in Windows Vista to write and read about that not many of us have covered XPS in any detail.

As you know, the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the new graphical subsystem in Windows Vista that replaces the old GDI graphical subsystem and makes many of the cool UI features possible. In addition, WPF provides the foundation for a new print subsystem that includes, among other things, support for better color management to allow high-fidelity color printing as well as support for printing advanced effects such as gradients and transparencies. And the key ingredient that ties WPF and print subsystem together is XPS.

More precisely, a document in XPS Document format is a paginated representation of electronic paper described in an XML-based format. This means that XPS can and will serve as the page description language (PDL) for printers. And if the operating system itself can generate a document that is completely ready for a printer, then this eliminates the need for an intermediate conversion to a printer-specific language. This is not only a more efficient process but it can also increase the reliability and fidelity of the printed document.

Consistency is key

One of the biggest features of having XPS as a native operating system feature is that it can better tie together what you see on the screen with what you see on the printed output. In other words, since the document can remain in the same format from the time it is created to the time it is printed, conversion errors are eliminated and there will be a more consistent format for both screen and print output as far as layout and color.

XPS compatible printers

As you can imagine, this calls for printers that support XPS. Although major printer vendors are already planning to release printers with built-in XPS support, Windows Vista's print subsystem will still support legacy printers.

PDF competition is a side effect

As you can see, XPS is more about improving Windows Vista's printing capabilities than about creating a Microsoft-branded PDF competitor. In fact, one could almost imagine that the XPS format's PDF-like capabilities are more of a side effect than the intended goal. And that Microsoft decided to take advantage of the side effect by allowing applications to easily create XPS documents and then incorporating an XPS Viewer into Windows Vista's Internet Explorer.

Conclusion

As I experiment with Windows Vista Beta 2, I'll continue reporting on all of its new and improved features. As always, if you have comments or information to share about Windows Vista's XML Paper Specification, please take a moment to drop by the Discussion area and let us hear.

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