RSSOffice 12 to Support PDF Documents
By Ed Oswald | Published October 3, 2005, 12:26 PM
Microsoft over the weekend revealed that PDF support would be integrated into the next version of its productivity software, known as Office 12. The announcement was made on Saturday at the Global MVP Summit, Microsoft's annual confab for its most valuable professionals.
The company says that it's adding the new format to promote "sharing across multiple platforms." However, the move fits in with Microsoft's other recent efforts to take on Adobe in areas where its rival has enjoyed considerable success.
Metro is arguably Microsoft's answer to PDF; Acrylic is Microsoft's digital imaging tool that works much like Photoshop; and to some extent, Sparkle could pose a threat to Flash, which Adobe recently acquired through its purchase of Macromedia.
Brian Jones, program manager for Office, explained why Microsoft is making the effort to support PDF in a post to his Web log on Saturday.
"This really all comes down to the basic theme of content sharing. We realize that this is a really important scenario, and that's why we're making the move to default XML formats that are fully documented," Jones wrote.
"Now we've moved to the files being in open, redistributable, and archivable formats; and we can focus more of our innovations around ways to act on those formats."
Jones reported that on the Office Online support site, Microsoft receives approximately 30,000 searches a week for PDF support. That made for a pretty easy decision as to what new feature would interest the most users.
However, the addition of PDF support may come as a surprise to some considering the Metro announcement earlier this year. It is unclear as to how Metro may play a role in Office 12, although the format will be natively supported by Windows Vista.
Few other details have emerged from the MVP Summit; Microsoft expressly forbade attendees from saying anything about what was discussed at the yearly meeting.
Cool Feature. Microsoft on the right track. But the only talk about saving to PDF. What about Opening the PDF files and Do them Save as :)
Is this available?
Jerry
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|ok everyone listen, My first point is didnt they make pdf NON-EDITABLE for legal agrements and other read only files so no one can change them, that is why there not editable. my second point is the reason (i think) that microsoft is implmenting the pdf support is for people (like mum dads and elderly and n00bs) that dont know about all these other free programs and they trust microsoft they want the convience of having a all-in-1-program (like they like a all-in-1-printer) its microsoft smart way of killing off adobe cause people will get office12 and not worry about adobe anymore, exspecially big comapanys that dont want to pay for 2 licences when they can pay for 1. if you reply to this post please copy it and email it to aarong85@hotmail.com thank you
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|The new PDF feature was shown at the MVP Summit for the first time. From what was shown, it is all Adobe OpenDoc standard. The apps demoed were Word, Excel, Visio, Access (reports), PowerPoint and Publisher. Each worked flawlessly in the demo, which was (obviously) a pre-beta build.
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|Microsoft tries as hard as it can to MAKE the standard, but yes, uzd2002, we hope Microsoft is trying to be nice...
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|Hard to steal it when they made it from scratch, nobody can do anything on this issue.
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|Is Microsoft finally growing up and playing nice with others or are they intending to steal PDF like they tried to still Java?
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|I remember that. Microsoft did create a Java engine for IE in windows, only for Sun Microsoystems to pitch a hissy fit in court. Now Java in IE requires a download from Sun, and Microsoft JVM-based software like WildTangent is in some ways unusable, especially on XP SP2 which permanently disables the Microsoft JVM with no possible workaround. Yes, I know WildTangent ain't necessarily a Microsoft thing, but they DO require Microsoft's Java solution for some reason or another, so I can't play some older versions of Polar Bowler freeware edition or even certain games created for Fox Sports Online (of which the latter ironically distributes content to Microsoft's MSN site.) The courts screwed up on that one, for sure. So let me ask: if Java is a standard, yet only Sun can distribute a Java driver, so now what? You do the math.
Now how does this relate to Adobe and Microsoft? Probably not much, unless you count that Microsoft's opening of the Office 12 file format specifications is currently viewed with suspicion because of both licensing that open source supporters claim is unreasonable and because of Microsoft's past history. My guess is that supporting PDF files is therefore an easy way to potentially make for an easier decision for Microsoft's customers. So hopefully Microsoft has learned its lesson since the Java debacle and won't make the same mistake it did back then with PDF support in Microsoft Office. (And maybe the company can somehow clarify the matter of the open specification vs. the licensing requirements for its next-generation office suite's file formats.)
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|"Sun Microsoystems to pitch a hissy fit in court."
Do you have any idea why?
Wasn't it BREACH OF CONTRACT?
Didn't SUN WIN?
hmmm
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|Told ya.
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|I'm glad they are supporting it.
Honestly speaking, I never liked installing Adobe Acrobat Reader. I still make sure I install version 5.1 or below, just to have a PDF viewer. They keep getting larger and larger and slower and slower as each useless version progresses.
Heck, we even have people writing "speed-up" programs for Acrobat. It's just becoming rediculous.
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|Another thing to consider on the issue of Office and PDA files: Massachusetts. Didn't that state announce it would use PDF and OpenDocument files instead of Microsoft file formats? Something about how open the file formats actually are? Probably a coincidence, but you have to wonder about the timing. I sure did.
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|Yes, I think this is a bit much to be a coincidence. The question is, will these PDFs be editable? If not, OpenDocument is absolutely the way to go. I personally think Adobe is a bit bulky for the few features it can do. OpenOffice.org can already save to PDF, but, it can not view/edit them, so like I said, I'm sticking with OpenDocument formats.
"we're making the move to default XML formats that are fully documented..." EXCEPT, as I read in the Massachusettes article, that although MS fully documents it, they have placed licensing that prevent Open Source Software from using it. Plus you must have, I forget what it was, either windows or ms office to even view this documentation from MS's site.
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|Yeah, some people do have issue with these things. That's why I brought it up.
Then again, Adobe did everyone a favor by not requiring licensing fees for using its PDF specification (this has even been mentioned in a Microsoft PR discussion on the topic.) As such, the open source community et al could be a little off mark with assumptions but Microsoft has been percieved as over the top on several things. Not to mention that the current XML formats for Word 2003 actually ARE supported by OpenOffice.org (in addition to Word XP and earlier .doc files)... but knowing some people's reactions to anything dealing with Microsoft, we may never know for sure.
So are open source supporters blowing steam or not? It will be interesting to see how THIS one plays out. You do the math.
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|The OOo support of MS formats are kind of like hacks to them... They do not get to see the recipe, so it is not garunteed that the formats will work, though they have been very compatable. I've only had a couple bad experiences, which i dont know what they were to be exact.
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|Same here, no problems. I don't know about the support being hacks though, however anything's possible there. I use OOo on my desktop because I could not afford the cost to unlock the trial copy of Microsoft Office that came on my HP Windows XP Home x64 box. I just save to Word XP format because my laptop has Microsoft Office with no need to unlock AND because Microsoft Office is used at the community college where I attend class.
Hack or no hack, you can't beat OOo for open source Microsoft Office compatibility IMO.
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|wow, OOo's website has been pretty slow the last couple days, i wonder if Mass's move and Betanews have advertised it enough lol.
Ah, here's what I was referring to when i mentioned the support being like hacks:
"The specifications for Microsoft's DOC format are closed, so if you're building a potential Word rival that's supposed to consume and create DOC files, you've got an undocumented binary black box for a target. As a result, only Microsoft products can offer 100 percent compatibility, which is a deal-breaker for organizations that wish to migrate to another word processor without changing to a new format."
-- http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,,1857298,00.asp
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|I was referring to that in the 3rd party sense in regard to OOo/open source. But you do have a point. Microsoft isn't always open about everything. At least they're open (to certain extents) on the Office "12" formats. It's just that either they're not open enough, or else the open source guys have something wrong (the latter just barely seems to be a far-away possibility while the former is perceived to be the true fact of the matter). I'm no open source expert, but this IS Microsoft we're talking about. It probably depenmds on who you believe to be sure, but Bill Gates and his group have atrtracted several naysayers over the years.
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|Metro is to MS Office as TIFF is to an image editor. PDF support won't make a big difference, since so many options like pdfFactory Pro, are already available. But it won't hurt.
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|From a practical point of view. But from ease of use, no one wants to install a separate product. Besides, that product requires a separate support, AND it doesn't work on servers. Office you can install anywhere. When Office updates, it will update ALL components, that product would need to be installed/updated separately.
People don't think about stuff like that when you are talking a unified environment. Simplicity is what people crave, not merely the ability to do different things.. That's why Windows became so popular in the FIRST place.
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|Excellent point.
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|Looks like OpenOffice has them rattled!
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|I always think Adobe's product is hard to use, and I hope MS make them easier for most of us.
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|I agree. I don't know about you guys but I hate coming across a PDF when surfing the net. I hope they have some kind of "light-weight" viewer to help with this (and a way to make PDF's editable for everyone). If I could get rid of Acrobat altogether that would be great!
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|Microsoft is doing this to take out adobe so that they can make their own products to replace adobe's and then will most likely produce them for windows only.
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|Not, they reached an agreement with Adobe to license PDF in Office.
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|I think this is a great move. As long as Microsoft's version does not suck as bad as Acrobat.
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|It will be a limited version of Acrobat for Office. Its non-redistributable, so you can't give Acrobat to someone, unless they have a license of Office 12 installed.
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|yea we know that microsoft i just the corp ver of pinky and the brain all they want to do is take over the world we just can't prove it as of yet
my question is how much is it going to cost me to upgrade software is getting so high priced
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|Umm.. how old are you? Back in 1980, Bill Gates goal was "to install Microsoft Windows on EVERY desktop in the World..". He proclaimed that in a conference. He envisioned that EVERY machine would be running Microsoft Windows.
They laughed at him. As of 2000 I don't think anyone is laughing anymore, its closer to reality than you think.
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|Though it is close to reality, it will never be 100% there. I've read your comment above, and ease of use is what a lot of people want, but more and more are wanting open source too, MS's view on supporting true Open Source formats seems to hold them back - at the same time, those that are ignorant or don't care about it help keep MS ahead.
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|People are starting to look past "easy to use" and towards "Secure and Stable"
I know several people that had never heard of Linux until recently asking me to load it for them. Unfortunatly I declined because I don't want to have to support it.
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|Well Micro$oft has set their focus on taking down Adobe. Enough said.
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|Well no. If MS wanted to take down Adobe they would NOT incorporate PDF support in Office.
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|Sure they would, and they would slowly change it so it was incompatible. Then they would point the finger at Adobe.
Just like they did with Windows 3.1, and many other products.
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|bahahahaha.....
So true, so true :)
*eyes Java Virtual Machine*
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|Not sure where you got that info, but you are dead wrong. The version of the PDF writer in the upcoming Office IS Adobe. Its a scaled down version/add-in of Acrobat.
They aren't looking to recreate the wheel. Adobe has a good product, despite the comments in this forum. PDF is worldwide accepted as THE BEST portable document format.
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|heh, java virtual machine is first thing that came to my mind too after reading that. Funny thing was, since they lost the battle and had to remove the their version of java, they called the removal software an "update."
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|What info is dead wrong? That they have a habit of embracing and extending third party protocols until they no longer work with or like that third party's product?
Sorry, that's fact. Kerberos would be a fine example of that. There are countless others as well.
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