Wictor Wilén

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Reactions on the XPS standardisation

Posted at 2007-07-02 04:02 by Wictor Wilén in XPS with 6 comments.

Since the news broke out that XML Paper Specification was submitted to ECMA International bloggers and authors has gone wild, here is a collection of reflections and reactions on it. Most reactions come from the say no to Microsoft team.

Andy Updegrove declares "game over" for open standards and in my opinion; his post and thoughts declares game over for innovation!
War and PDF: Microsoft submits XPS to standards body - ars technica
Microsoft and ECMA: Together again, doing it again by Bob Sutor. He has a point; ECMA should not have the primary focus of getting the ECMA standard to be a copy of the XPS specification. Pretty stupid and non-diplomatic statement by Microsoft and ECMA, this is what the wolves are looking for...
Hurray for ECMA TC46 - John Obeto praises ECMA.

Why do we have to settle with the standard that was submitted first, why can't we have the option to choose the one fitting our needs best. Isn't it the most important thing that we have well-known, well-documented and controlled standards? I'm getting quite bored on this constant battle between the different communities...

Comments and trackbacks

# Poor Quality by arthur dent

eh, it was a nice idea. I'll still take PDF over XPS any day though... considering PDF is WAY WAY smaller (in file size) than XPS.

# Re: Poor Quality by Wictor Wilén

I don't know about quality, but I agree that in most cases the file size is smaller using PDF.

# File size by Thad McIlroy

My tests of XPS vs. PDF do not confirm your findings on file size, but assuming you are both right, can we address the question head on: "what's file size got to do with it?" Sure these days there are a host of metrics: image fidelity, font usage, graphic embedding, XML support and embedding, that are far more important than the 10-year-old (now non-)issue of file size. I'm still waiting for an intelligent, reasoned and thorough comparison between the value of these two formats before I make up my mind about them. File size will NOT be at the top of my list of criteria.

# Re: File size by Wictor Wilén

I totally agree that the file size is a non-issue, even though I like small files. But as you write Thad, there are so many more important criterias than the file size.

# Reluctance by W^L+

I agree that file size is only one of the issues to consider, and likely not even the most important. For me, I have accepted PDF reluctantly and with reservations, because it has been a proprietary format. It is currently going through the standards process, but I'd like to see less vendor control and a more-open-to-everyone process. Reading Ecma's XPS charter (taken almost word-for-word from the charter for OOXML) tells me that XPS is designed to have more of the things I don't like about PDF, including hopefully-benevolent dictator running the show.

# Re: Reluctance by Wictor Wilén

I have the same relation to PDF. One big advantage of XPS, not mentioned often, is the complete cycle from document to XPS capable printers, ie no need for PostScript and others. The largest printer vendors has co-worked on the "standard" and submission to ECMA.

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These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. The content of this site are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in anyway. In addition, my thoughts and opinions open to change. Therefore you should not consider past posts to necessarily reflect my current thoughts and opinions.