Print - Microsoft Strips Key Features from Office 2007, Vista

With Adobe Systems threatening a lawsuit over a new feature in Microsoft Office 2007 that would have allowed users to save any document in Adobe’s PDF format, Microsoft now says it will simply drop the feature. But Office 2007 isn't the only major Microsoft product to shed its features in recent weeks. The company recently revealed it would also drop an eagerly anticipated feature from Windows Vista and downplay another previously hyped feature.

Regarding Office 2007, Adobe and Microsoft had been talking contentiously over the past several weeks about the feature, a PDF conversion tool, for which Adobe wanted Microsoft to pay a licensing fee. Microsoft isn't interested in paying for the feature, however, and is now considering offering the PDF conversion tool to Office 2007 users as a free download instead.

Adobe is still expected to take legal action against Microsoft in the near future. "Microsoft has a monopoly and we are always concerned about the possibility that they might abuse that monopoly," an Adobe spokesperson said recently, alluding to the PDF discussions. The company says it hasn't yet decided whether to sue, but European Union (EU) antitrust officials have already weighed in, publicly stating that the spat is an intellectual-property issue, not a competitive one.

What's interesting about this whole debate is that Adobe normally licenses Adobe Acrobat PDF for free, and other Office suites, including those from Corel WordPerfect and OpenOffice.org, offer PDF integration already. Additionally, several free PDF conversion tools already are available and work natively with Microsoft Office products. So why would Adobe want to prevent Microsoft from making this functionality available from within Office?

Many are speculating that what Adobe is really upset about is Microsoft's new XML Paper Specification (XPS) format, which competes with Adobe Acrobat. In addition to providing PDF-like services to Windows Vista, however, XPS also forms the basis of the Vista printing subsystems. According to reports, Adobe wanted Microsoft to charge customers for both PDF and XPS export from Microsoft Office applications.

Not coincidentally perhaps, XPS is on the chopping block now in Vista. Although this technology will still be used under the covers as the basis for Vista's printing subsystems, (and Microsoft does plan to offer XPS functionality via a Web download to Vista users), XPS export and viewing functionality won't be included by default in any Vista versions. PC makers that bundle Vista on their machines will have the option of installing that functionality for users. It's unlikely that many PC makers will opt to do so, a fact that Microsoft freely admits.

Meanwhile, Vista is also losing a major feature, PC-to-PC sync, which Microsoft Co-President Jim Allchin described to me back in January as one of his favorite Vista features. "You really can leave all your documents on a server and use cached copies on the client," he said. "It's just synchronizing the files when you make changes, as needed."

It's unclear whether PC-to-PC sync will appear later, perhaps as a Web download update to Vista, or in a future Windows release. Typically, when Microsoft drops features from the Windows version currently in development, those features get lumped into the next release. Microsoft has indicated that it will be releasing more frequent Windows updates going forward, though it hasn't yet specified how it will deliver those updates.

they should be glad. PDF is awful. slow, can't edit it, just horrible. On top of that there are the constant adobe "update" reminders each time I view a document. Don't care too much for XPS since it's just another implementation of a bad idea. Too bad all the opean sauce idealists can't come up with a better non propietary solution. That'd be something I'd like to have. Riddance of PDF>

No big deal. Just download and install the free CutePDF Writer (assuming your corporate overlords will allow it). Of course, it would be better if MS and Adobe could stop pi**ing in each other's pools, but until they stop acting like petulant children, this is a good solution. (I would be remiss if I didn't point out that a different Operating System That Shall Remain Nameless allows printing of PDF files from any application as an integrated part of the OS. Had to get that in there.) :-) "Meanwhile, Windows Vista is also losing a major feature, PC-to-PC sync, which Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin described to me as one of his favorite Vista features back in January. "You really can leave all your documents on a server and use cached copies on the client," he said. "It's just synchronizing the files when you make changes, as needed." " You can't "lose" what you never had. Since Vista hasn't been released yet, this "feature" never existed. Heaven help me, I'm starting to sound like Sharky. Where's my therapist?

According to the Commonwealth of Mass. Acrobat is open. WTF is going on here with Adobe? Have to say I think they've cocked up here, and let MS get away with all the good publicity for once and not being seen as the bad boy. It will be interesting to see how Adobe responds to this and what their slant on refusing to allow MS to use this when they have let others do so for free.

MS should just support open document. add it for free. The linux backers would sure like that, and adobe would have no way to counter act the move since it is not a MS propietary format. As far as the OSX support of pdf, bleh why would you want it? Just another way to get locked into propietary formats. PDF stands for "Propietary" as supposed to "Portable". That is certainly being made clear by adobe and illustrates the reason to get rid of the format. *claps for open document*.

NOoooooooooooo!!! Don't get rid of XPS. That is the only way PDF will die! I hope adobe dies!

As far as monopolies go, Adobe should look at itself in the mirror. Who has the entire graphics market cornered? And to drive the point home you went out and bought Macromedia (you better not **** up Dreamweaver) That being said, PDF is poo. Nothing more, nothing less.

"PDF is poo. Nothing more, nothing less." OK, seriously folks--why the hatred of .PDF? It's a DISTRIBUTION format, and a fine one at that. Perhaps in the world of spreadsheets and games it doesn't mean that much to y'all, but in my universe, it's indespensible. Is it simply because it isn't a Windows-proprietary format that originated from Redmond and named "Microsoft Windows Live Document Distribution Format 2006" or something similarly ridiculous? Seriously. Inquiring minds want to know.

The fact that "Saving to PDF" is the second most often requested Office feature that Microsoft gets from the public and the fact that PDF has become a de-facto Internet standard despite the fact it is a proprietary format, means that Adobe is doing something right. I agree with lotsamystuff, why all the animosity towards PDF?

"Meanwhile, Windows Vista is also losing a major feature, PC-to-PC sync" I was excited when this feature was announced, because I use it to back up files on my laptop. Oh well. Hopefully it will be available as a web download like the XPS exporter. Regarding the PDF issue, I find it interesting that Adobe licenses the PDF for free to everyone except Microsoft. I thought "free" meant "free" to everyone.

Paul, are you sure about XPS being removed from Vista? Everything I've read states that it will be in by default, but that PC manufacturers can remove it if they choose. See http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6079519.html -- not that I trust ZDNet, BTW. Also, interestingly, you say it is unlikely that PC manufacturers will choose to re-add XPS, and that article says it is unlikely that PC manufacturers will choose to remove it.

"Where's my therapist?" Yup. I too think you need to go back to your therapist. Great that you finally realized it. It's the first step towards recovery. "OK, seriously folks--why the hatred of .PDF?" I don't hate the pdf format as such. It's pretty useful. I hate Acrobat reader. It takes *hours* to load! "Regarding the PDF issue, I find it interesting that Adobe licenses the PDF for free to everyone except Microsoft. I thought "free" meant "free" to everyone" I agree. It sucks. "Heaven help me, I'm starting to sound like Sharky." No. Like Bonch! :-)

"Is it simply because it isn't a Windows-proprietary format that originated from Redmond and named "Microsoft Windows Live Document Distribution Format 2006" or something similarly ridiculous?" You probably like it because it's not any of those. In any case, aren't you "putting words" into their mouths (which is what you accuse me of)?

"they should be glad. PDF is awful. slow, can't edit it, just horrible." PDF is blazing fast. You're used to Adobe Acrobat before version 7, when it would load all its plugins on startup. The new Acrobat does not do that anymore. PDF is just a subset of Postscript, a fast printing description language. Apple's Quartz is based on PDF. On OS X, I open a PDF in less than half a second, I can edit and export to PDFs freely, and what I print on screen is exactly how it will look on the printer (unlike Windows which changes all its text wrapping and spacing). It's pretty nice. With Microsoft dropping even MORE features from Vista, it looks like the claims that Vista will be just Windows XP SP3 are true. The sinking Windows disaster continues to fall, and Microsoft keeps on dying.

"That being said, PDF is poo. Nothing more, nothing less." Another ignorant person who has no idea what PDFs are and what they're for. PDFs are fantastic and very fast. Maybe in the Windows world where everything is slow, PDFs aren't as great. PDF is just a subset of Postscript, a long-time vector-based printing description language. Every time I see a Windows user criticize PDF, I laugh and shake my head at their ignorance.

"Both XPS and PC-PC sharing are great ideas. They need to happen." Or just buy a Mac and get all those features now instead of in 2007. PDF and iSync are great. It's sad that even the PC Magazines are reviewing Beta 2 and declaring that Vista will barely match OS X Tiger from April of last year. My hardware is superior, and my software is superior. No wonder all the important creative industries use Macs exclusively and probably always will. PCs are always about five years behind where Apple is at.

Yes, I should be more specific. I hate Acrobat reader. Why? 1. I have to download it and install it just to view PDFs. 2. It puts the updater on the system tray. 3. It installs a fast loader program in start up. 3. It pops up messages that annoy me to update it. Sometimes the popup goes behind an empty PDF screen so I think there is something wrong. 4. It is still slow to open even with the fast loader. Basically its slow and acts like it is the only thing installed on your computer or the only thing you care about that is installed on your computer. I just want to view a document, that's it.

LOL. This is an amazing quote: "Another ignorant person who has no idea what PDFs are... PDFs are fantastic." I love bonch's technical rebuttal. ;)

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but wasn't "Over the Hedge" animation done entirely on HP PCs? Many of the Chinese action movie animation sequences are also done on PCs. Come on, if PCs were so horrible, 95% of the world wouldn't be using them. Of course, Bonch has a "Stockholm syndrome" theory to explain this. Maybe lotsa has a better theory.

"Maybe lotsa has a better theory." I don't know if he does, but I have a philosophical rumination. If a Mac Evangelist were in the woods, talking to himself, did he really make a noise?

I've read something similar to what Patriot read, that there will be a special Vista version without XPS support, very similar to the 'N' versions of XP that ship without Windows Media Player. I think that it boils down to Microsoft expecting the EU to object to XPS in the same way as they did to WMP, and so Microsoft is just going to do it willingly. Perhaps there will just be one 'N' version of Vista that doesn't include XPS or WMP. That would kill two birds with one stone. It'd be nice to know the truth on this issue.

Paul, are you sure they're nabbing it entirely from every edition, and not just remming it from the N-editions in Europe? Secondly, this is why PDFs should be avoided. I have to worry a bit about Apple's decision to use it in their printing sub-system. If Adobe didn't say it would be free for them to use, forever, they might end up paying some hefty licensing fees if Mac OS X gains in popularity. I somehow doubt Adobe would do something out of the goodness of their heart, considering how they had the guy who made a reader for deaf-people arrested when he entered the US for a DMCA violation. ---- "No wonder all the important creative industries use Macs exclusively" As shark pointed out, you're wrong. If I recall correctly, people are using Linux too (Pixar). I also consider gaming to be "creative industry", and I think everyone knows that's more of a PC thing :P (or console thing). Have fun waiting on your ports (well, the ones they bother porting).

Err, wrong again Mr. Bonch: "PDFs are fantastic and very fast. Maybe in the Windows world where everything is slow, PDFs aren't as great." I recall many complaints regarding the performance of MySQL and Apache on Mac OS X, and they carry over to the Intel processor as well (not just a PPC thing). Every OS is slower than some OSes at something. You do not have "the world's most advanced OS", regardless of what the Apple web page says. If you're referring to Explorer, It has it's problems. There's slow performance when the system is running it's run-on-startup tasks. When viewing folders with literally 11,000 different kinds of icons, things can be slow in certian views (I would like to see how finder handles that). Explorer weighed down by BHO (Browser Helper Objects) can have a drastic impact, especially if they're poorly written. And who could forget what happens when the Send-To menu in the right-click context menu for a file has like 200 entries...

From what I've read they are pulling XPS support from Office 2007 (not Windows Vista) and providing it as part of the free download that will now provide PDF support. (Source Brian Jones, Pogram Manager of Office: http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/archive/2006/06/03/616022.aspx)

Hey ponch: Why don't you pull your head out of Steve Jobs pants. For the record I am no stranger to PDF. I use them every day. The company I work for uses them to render forms. The people I do contract graphic work for demand that the final image be rendered to PDF. I use, and have used, PDF on Windows, Linux and Mac. That's right ponch, Mac. We have Macs at work to test applications on and I don't know what annoys me more the bogged down bloat that is OS X - an operating system that does not, in any way, allow me to tweak it in order to suck more performance out of that silly white box - or Adobe Acrobat/PDF and it's bloat. Funny how all the new version Adobe releases of most all of their products keep getting fatter and slower (for the record: on BOTH OSes). I understand the use of PDF but that does not mean I have to like it and its inredibly retarded file sizes and long renering times. I honestly don't give a good rats *** if the new version of Reader cuts back on load times or what have you. Adobe has created 7 versions up until now of a **** poor application/browser plug-in that, when not taking it's sweet time loading, sits there with a dialogue hiding in the background telling me I have to update NOW NOW NOW while keeping the page blank. And this is on Windows, Linux and Mac. Whatever. You'll take this and find a way to make an anti-Microsoft retort anyway. I don't know why anyone here even bother responding to you.

Sticknick I've given up, he is a muppet of the highest order and completely missing (as per usual) the point of this thread which is discuss why Adobe are not allowing MS to put PDF writing in Office when they allow other to do so. Not exactly an open standard is it.

"If a Mac Evangelist were in the woods, talking to himself, did he really make a noise?" It depends. If the Mac Evangelist is deaf, then no, he will not make a noise, because no one will be around to hear it. If his hearing is fine, then he will make a noise, because he will hear himself talking.

Seriously guys... Why do you bother trying to respond to certain users? They are just dragging the discussion through the mud and diverting from meaningful conversations. A marketing staffer from the Open Office project replied to Paul's weekly short-takes. Rather than attempt to engage him, or discuss the fact that prominent decision makers do, in fact, read these articles, instead the thread was another inane conversation about Apple. I'm not thrilled I have to keep adding caveats to my messages since Mac users appear out of nowhere and search for the slightest hook to misdirect the conversation into a glowing recommendation about their favorite company. Paul writes plenty of news stories about Apple. Having a debate related to those stories would at least be contextually accurate. If Apple created their own group-ware, database server, an original in-house web server, unique programming languages with IDE, wrote main-frame interoperability software, created advanced B2B messaging software, had a game console, wrote tons of games, had the dominant office productivity suite, wrote an ERP system, created CRM software, created an e-commerce suite, created network security/proxy software, created software for centrally maintaining corporate networks, had one of the biggest R&D budgets on the planet, and finally created hardware specs that every hardware company used as their reference..... Perhaps they would be worthy of frequent inclusion. If a few Apple devotees want to believe it is socially acceptable to insult others or continually veer off-topic for no apparent reason, especially relating to news directed at the products of Microsoft (who really isn't even a competitor), then let them talk to themselves and maybe they'll get the point.

Unless Bonch makes some totally outrageous, 100% fictitious statement, I ignore him. I use to debate him, but since his mind is made up, I usually bypass his comments. Some newer users may not know Bonch's track record, so they respond. Soon, they too will learn. :-)

"Some newer users may not know Bonch's track record, so they respond. Soon, they too will learn. :-)" Indeed. Don't feed the troll, and he will starve to death.

You can get the PC to PC sync feature on XP right now with FolderShare, which Microsoft bought several months back. FolderShare is free, works great and you don't need Vista to use it.

I guess everybody claiming that MS' OpenXML format is an open standard just like ODF should have learned a lesson now. Yes, that is what it means when an "open" format is controlled (and patent ridden) by a single entity like MS or Adobe. (I acutally applaud the steps taken by Adobe. Given MS' track record with their "embrace and extend" strategy, PDF probably would soon have lost its platform neutral character - or does anybody know a non-MS-standard used by MS which did not suffer from Redmond's "adoption"?) @christofer "If Apple created their own ..." *öh* Which software you listed was actually written by MS and not just bought (or copied) with their monopoly tax money? E. g. the [MS] "created CRM software" is acutally former Navision (just type www.navision.com in Firefox and see where you end up...). Such uninformed|shill statements actually puts you in the same category as bonch..

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Warning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apple Troll Alert! The below usernames are Apple trolls. DO NOT REPLY! MysterMask Bonch Replying will only let them troll further!

"Replying will only let them troll further!" Let's say I'm familiar with the MBS suite of products and leave it at that. Normally I wouldn't respond, but suggesting I don't know the history of said products is a bit like visiting my house and telling me the landscaping is garbage. Annoying and pointless semantic arguments require me to caveat everything with 900 disclaimers proving I ultimately know what I'm talking about. Granted I already said that in the 3rd paragraph of my last message, right before I made my point, which was an act of prescience since I knew I'd elicit senseless remarks from "random visitors". Gosh I love having the ability to read minds. That's so cool, isn't it?