OpenXPS portable document format info

[Brickjectivity]

This is an info blurb.

XPS is one of the few alternatives to the ever-changing no-longer-portable PDF format that we all know and suffer to exist, kind of like an extra taxman.

You may have noticed in Windows 10 there is an option to 'Print to XPS'. Looking for further information about this you will be able to find a MS XPS development team blog but won't be able to obtain the specification paper for .xps or .oxps files as all of the links on said blog are dead.

You can find this though: Standard ECMA-388 Its got links to descriptions of a file format.

This has file format specs for something called the OpenXPS format, which is a paginated page description language that is either similar to or the same as Microsoft's XPS. There aren't a lot of utilities that read this format, currently; but Microsoft's XPS reader and Linux's Evince both can.

 

[LuisDantas]

And you think that this (or these) XPS format(s) are worth keeping an eye to and perhaps using outright, correct?

 

[joe1776]

XPS is one of the few alternatives to the ever-changing no-longer-portable PDF format that we all know and suffer to exist, kind of like an extra taxman.

I'm uninformed on these problems with PDF. I searched but couldn't find a site that would educate me. Do you know of one?

 

[LuisDantas]

PDF began as a format to ensure faithful printing of an original digital document.

These days it has become a fairly outdated format, mainly because it has been pushed to various directions at different times by different people. It is not even target quite so much towards physical documents anymore, yet at the same time it is really weak as a plataform for true digital books - too tied to rigid page sizes, no tools for dealing with the variety of approaches towards making a digital document, not much in the way of format consistency or recovery, etc.

 

[Brickjectivity]

And you think that this (or these) XPS format(s) are worth keeping an eye to and perhaps using outright, correct?

Yes.

The PDF format was supposed to be portable. That was part of its name and why people accepted it. We were all told that it was great for archiving information. Instead what we find is that it doesn't even have a data structure for storing tables of data. Its near to impossible to extract data from a pdf correctly to convert it into another form. The file format fights you on it. I think that as long as PDF continues its format will change frequently, such that your PDF reader will forever require updates from Adobe. Rather than portable it is guaranteed to continue to change, such that an older PDF reader will not be able to properly read next years PDF documents.

http://wiki.c2.com/?PdfSucks
The Trouble with PDFs
ELI5: Why are PDFs so hard to edit? : explainlikeimfive

Lots of companies take advantage of this false portability to charge everyone multiple times for the same software. Foxit which costs around 100$ limits you to 4 reinstallations, for instance. Adobe you have to pay regularly to be able to keep reading newer PDF files. All this fulfills a manufactured need -- the need to keep changing the software so that it is never adequate without us buying it again and again. At the same time it undermines the main goal of portable documents -- reusability. PDF is not standard, so we need a standard.

Another problem with it not being truly portable is that its hooked in to all of our printer drivers. Its common to be able to print in PDF format. In the case of PDF you can never be certain whether you will be able to extract the data again later, no matter how pretty the page is; but its name suggests that you will. Therefore it stands in the way of improvement. Its in the way of paperless offices for example. Its an extra obstacle.

 

[sun rise]

PDF/A is a standard, archival format for those that need it PDF/A - Wikipedia

 

[icehorse]

Well I'd be all for a truly open format. But do we trust micro$oft to spearhead such a thing?

 

[Brickjectivity]

PDF/A is a standard, archival format for those that need it PDF/A - Wikipedia

Nice. It also says we can convert most pdf into pdfa. Ok, so that's good. I feel better.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Well I'd be all for a truly open format. But do we trust micro$oft to spearhead such a thing?

No. I am not clear on whether OpenXPS is Microsoft or not, but if we have PDFA then maybe its not such a big deal. I don't know. I think that Microsoft is showing some signs of humanity though. It could be that goodness exists even there.

 

[LuisDantas]

Microsoft is no saint, but I expect them to suffer from the flaws of PDF as much as anyone else.