KEY POINTS:
Microsoft is making forward motion with its PDF competitor - XPS or XML Paper Specification.
Standards body Ecma has formed a technical committee to develop a new standard that is fully compatible with the Office Open XML formats.
The Ecma International website says it will form the standard for an XML-based electronic paper format and XML-based page description language, which is consistent with existing implementations of the format, called the XML Paper Specification
"The aim is to enable the implementation of the Office Open XML Formats by a wide set of tools and platforms in order to foster interoperability across office productivity applications and with line-of-business systems," the website says.
XPS is one of many native file formats that are supported in Microsoft's Office 2007.
It has been reported that Microsoft had plans to include PDF as a native format as well, but Adobe was unwilling to allow that.
Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format) has been widely held as an industry standard for many years, although it was only officially submitted to a standards body this year.
Microsoft has been criticised for not allowing third party implementations of Open XML before submitting it to Ecma, even going as far as saying the company misused the process, which is designed be open.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
