[gui-talk] Article: Microsoft to Drop PDF Support in Office

[Steve Pattison]

This article is taken from the Beta News home page at 
www.betanews.com.  -Steve.

Microsoft to Drop PDF Support in Office
By Nate Mook,
BetaNews
June 2, 2006, 5:40 PM

Amid threats of a lawsuit from Adobe, Microsoft acknowledged Friday 
that it would remove support for saving files in PDF from Office 
2007, as well as dropping its own rival format XPS from the productivity
suite and Windows Vista.

The changes follow a breakdown of talks between the two technology 
giants after Microsoft
announced last year it would include native PDF publishing with the 
release of Office
2007. The feature has long been a top request from customers, the 
company said at
the time, and other office suites have the capability.

But Adobe was unhappy with the move and a dispute has been brewing 
for four months,
Microsoft's lead counsel Brad Smith said Friday. Although PDF claims 
to be an open
format and is integrated into OpenOffice and Apple's Mac OS X 
operating system, Adobe
apparently sees Office 2007 as a real threat to its business.

Adobe wants Microsoft to charge for the feature, which the Redmond 
company has refused
to do. Smith said Adobe threatened to file an antitrust suit in 
Europe, and his company
was preparing for that eventuality. Now, however, Microsoft says it 
will make the
feature available through a downloadable add-on.

"PDF is usually viewed as an open standard and there are other office 
suites out
there that already support PDF output. I don't see us providing 
functionality that's
any different from what others are doing," remarked Microsoft's 
Office Open XML format
lead Brian Jones in a blog posting.

"This really is one of those cases where you just have to shake your 
head. Adobe
got a lot of goodwill with customers, particularly in government 
circles, for making
PDF available as an open standard. It's amazing that they would go 
back on the openness
pledge."

In addition, Microsoft will drop support for its own fixed-layout 
format known as
XPS from Office and offer an XPS-free version of Windows Vista to 
OEMs that request
it. Windows Vista includes XPS -- formerly code-named "Metro" -- as 
part of the Windows
Presentation Foundation. The company will host a session on using 
Vista as a document
platform at TechEd 2006 in Boston on June 12.

However, it is unlikely many computer makers will opt for the 
XPS-free option. European
computer makers have balked at Windows XP N, a special version of 
Microsoft's flagship
operating system that strips out Windows Media Player. When running a 
standard Vista
install, Office 2007 will have the "Save as XPS" feature.

Some analysts have remained skeptical that Microsoft's side is the 
full story. Adobe
has yet to comment on the matter, and may not publicly if it indeed 
intends to file
a lawsuit.

"I had no idea that Adobe carried such swath it could force Microsoft 
to raise Office
prices," chided Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox. He noted 
that Microsoft
is clearly using the media to push its position that if it cannot use 
PDF freely,
then Adobe's format must not be open.

"Whatever occurred in private between the two companies, Microsoft is 
aggressively
taking a very public PR position. I see Microsoft as trying to make 
this a debate
about formats and the openness of PDF. Microsoft claims new Office 
formats are open,
but some governments--Massachusetts, for example--disagree."

Already, industry groups have come out in support of Microsoft, and 
customers have
expressed their dismay at Adobe's actions.

"If recent reports are accurate, Adobe is turning PDF from an open 
standard into
a double standard. It seems their new position is that the PDF 
standard is now open
for some to implement, but not all," commented Jonathan Zuck, 
President of the Association
for Competitive Technology (ACT).

"The Commonwealth did pick PDF as an open standard. Microsoft could 
gain favorable
position with Massachusetts or other governments by launching a FUD 
campaign that
portrays Adobe as exacting a double standard with respect to PDF 
openness," added
Jupiter's Wilcox.

Microsoft's Jones said he hopes Adobe realizes it has made a mistake 
and, "that they
probably shouldn't try to sue people for using an open file format." 
Microsoft has
pledged not to go after anyone that implements its Office Open XML 
formats, which
are currently being certified as a standard by Ecma.

"If you're like me and think this is just a bad thing all around, you 
should let
them know," Jones wrote. With no lawsuit filed just yet, Adobe could 
still give into
the public pressure and forge an agreement with Microsoft.

"The worst thing Adobe could do is not respond," said Wilcox. "The 
company needs
to tell its side of the story, before Microsoft's version is seared 
in the public
consciousness."


Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
Skype:  steve1963
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com