PDF and XPS: When Acronyms Compete
|
Last week, I warned that Microsoft competitors might yet legally go after Windows Vista. German newspaper Euro am Sonntag reports that Adobe could sue Microsoft over its flagship operating system. |
Right now, Adobe is working with European regulators, according to published reports. Lawsuit is another option being considered by the San Jose, Calif.-based company.
In mid-October, Microsoft voluntarily agreed to make a handful of changes related to Windows Vista. The one affecting Adobe: Microsoft would submit XPS (XML Paper Specification) for standards approval. Adobe considers XPS as competitor to PDF (Portable Document Format).
PDF and XPS are both essentially containers for representing digital content in a paper-like fashion. Both companies tout archival and printing benefits around their respective formats.
Competitively, Adobe's major concern is bundling, a Microsoft tactic in disfavor with European regulators. Microsoft had planned to bundle XPS with Office 2007 and Windows Vista but changed plans in early June. While XPS remains in Windows Vista, the technology is a separate add-in for Office 2007.
Microsoft used the change to gain some public relations--and quite possibly enterprise customer--gains at Adobe's expense. Besides XPS, Microsoft also planned to include PDF support in Office 2007. In a June Wall Street Journal story, Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, essentially blamed the PDF removal decision on its Windows development partner. "Adobe has threatened antitrust action unless Microsoft agrees to raise its prices [on Office 2007]," he asserted. Really? Adobe has so much swagger, it can push around Microsoft?
XPS removal from Office 2007 would suggest that Microsoft feared Adobe could make at least a seemingly legitimate legal complaint. The brunt of lawsuits has been against Windows, not Office. Microsoft would want to keep Office out of the line of legal fire.
Every public squabble has some private backstory. Microsoft's 2007 product release cycle will compete with most Adobe lines of business. The German newspaper indicated that future lines of business also concern Adobe, which reportedly is considering online photo and video products or services.
The question to ask here: How much of the increased Adobe-Microsoft competition relates to development platform decisions? Adobe is a Java and J2EE shop. The company is the largest Windows developer not directly supporting .NET. Adobe provides documentation for getting its stuff to work with .NET, but real support is for Java and J2EE. XPS, which derives heritage from XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) and Windows Presentation Foundation, is very much about .NET--unlike PDF.
PDF and XPS may be more than just acronyms. They are symbols of two different development approaches, one supporting Java and J2EE and the other .NET. Adobe's competitive concerns are much bigger than XPS.
Would Microsoft competitively press Adobe so hard if the partner truly supported .NET? I ask the question for comment.
Comments (6)
I wouldn't say "Adobe has so much swagger, it can push around Microsoft". I think Microsoft is trying to keep a low legal profile in order to appease the EU and to a lesser extent, the DOJ.
Microsoft isn't 'punishing' Adobe either, they are just bridging a gap that Adobe wouldn't.
Posted by Brody | November 19, 2006 6:39 PM
I agree; Microsoft is just trying to play "nice" this time, but at the same time improving the consumer's experience by adding new and needed features for the same cost in a new product, hence the purpose of delivering new products, and Adobe fails to acknowledge that.
Posted by Mario | November 19, 2006 9:27 PM
I really don't see where MS is in the wrong with Vista. Adobe simply does not want any possible threat to their PDF monopoly. Personally I am getting fed up with the crazy update system, terrible printing, and now huge security flaws in Adobe's PDF reader. I welcome any competition in this space.
Steve Wiseman
http://www.windows-admin-tools.com
Posted by Steve Wiseman | November 19, 2006 9:49 PM
Adobe a Java shop? Ha! Last time I checked most Adobe applications were desktop software titles written in C++/C (Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash, etc.) with a few legacy Java server products inherited from Macromedia (ColdFusion, JRun) and being deprecated soon. PDF has no connection to Java.
Posted by alex_t | November 20, 2006 2:56 AM
I cannot even get Acrobat 7.0 add-ins to work with Office 2007. It never worked in the beta and at the time the beta feedback was that Adobe was doing a version check. Now that Office 2007 is out it looks like Adobe is not even going to try it make it work for us 7.0 users. I called tech support for Adobe on Wednesday and the first thing they said was they were unaware that they had problems with Office 2007. They next said let me transfer you to the sales department which I thought was strange. The sales person said I needed to upgrade to Acrobat Pro 8.0. I asked if there was going to be a patch for 7.0 and she said we have had a new version out for about month now and I needed to upgrade. Nice service. :(
Posted by ex-Adobe_user | November 26, 2006 8:02 PM
I used to be a contractor at Microsoft - Developer Support Engineer II. Believe it or not, Microsoft engineers reverse engineered the Java language and the Java VM to create .NET!. They did it as an "essential business move" (quote from a Microsoft manager) because at that time the ease-of-use of Java began to put all Microsoft products in danger.
Although I use and make a living off of Microsoft products, I find it very difficult to support thier business practices. They have attempted to take over every avenue of business that someone else first proved was profitable. I know while my business is small and insignificant Microsoft has no interest in it. But if my business were to become so profitable that it recieved world recognition, Microsoft would no doubt try to take it over. What makes it all so bad is every version of Microsoft OS's all the way back to the initial version of DOS has been a reimplementation of something Unix or Linux first proved to work.
Although it is true that Microsoft stays on the cutting edge of technology, thier competition always comes up with the technology first and Microsoft just consistently finds a way to steal it!
Posted by Microsoft_and_Adobe_Developer | December 12, 2006 10:37 AM