OK, this blog is going to sound like I hate Microsoft. And I guess I'm starting to hate some of software since I'm using more Windows software now that I'm at a new position. Previously I wrote about their SSIS loading software. Again, Microsoft pushes a "standard" that wasn't broken.
Adobe product, PDF, has become the de facto standard for page document format. Basically, PDF will be exactly like a page if you had printed the document on a printer. On the Mac operating system, PDF remains centrals to all printing operations. When I print something, I can select a printer, save to PDF, or save to another application.
I have a database with all my notes, PDF, passwords, and other life snippets. The software is called Yojimbo. So as an example is having a website page that I want to save. I just paid a bill online, and I need a copy of the payment confirmation. On my mac, I can print to Yojimbo, and the operating system creates a PDF file, and lets Yojimbo about the PDF. Yojimbo takes the PDF and adds the PDF to the database. Perfect workflow.
Now, what does all this have to do with Microsoft. Well, Microsoft has decided to create a new PDF type markup language for Windows. The new format is called XPS. Why? XPS doesn't really bring anything great to the table of document sharing. I can send a PDF to anyone, and they can see it. No problem. I had to print a soft copy of a website on Internet Explored 7. However, no PDF print option just XPS option. OK, I thought, I'm sure there are a plethora of converters. But not for Mac. So much for a portable document format.
So again, Microsoft again doesn't want to play with other companies. They say develop for our platform, but if you have a hit, then we are going to bring out our own product.