XML Paper Specification
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| XML Paper Specification (XPS) | |
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 The XPS Viewer application displaying a printout of the Wikipedia front page |
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| File extension: | .xps |
| MIME type: | application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument |
| Developed by: | Microsoft |
The XML Paper Specification (XPS), formerly codenamed "Metro", is a document storage and viewing specification developed by Microsoft. The specification itself describes the formats and rules for distributing, archiving, rendering, and processing XPS documents. Most notably, the markup language for XPS is a subset of XAML for Windows Presentation Foundation, so that the methods used for rendering Windows applications can be used for documents.
XPS is viewed as a potential competitor to Adobe's portable document format (PDF), due to its ease of use, ubiquity in future Windows OSes, and a smaller download in current OSes.[1] PDF includes dynamic capabilities, and will not be replaced by XPS when such capabilities are needed.
Microsoft has indicated that devices aiming at Premium level of Windows Logo conformance certificate will be required to have XPS drivers for printing by June 1, 2007.[2]
XPS is shipped with Microsoft's Windows Vista and has the support of office printing system companies[citation needed] such as Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh and Xerox and software and hardware companies such as Software Imaging,[3], Pagemark Technology,[4], Informative Graphics[5], NiXPS[6] and Zoran.[7]
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[edit] Technology
An XPS file is in fact a ZIP archive, which contains the files which make up the document. These include an XML markup file for each page, the embedded images and fonts, as well as the digital rights management information. The contents of the XPS file can be examined simply by opening the file as a ZIP file. In Windows this can be accomplished by simply replacing the .xps file extension with .zip, and then opening it with any ZIP file viewer, including the one built into the operating system.
[edit] Licensing
In order to encourage wide use of the format, Microsoft has released XPS under a royalty-free patent license, allowing users to create implementations of the specification that read, write and render XPS files under certain conditions. The specification itself is released under a royalty-free copyright license, allowing its free distribution.[8]
[edit] Issues
As a competitor to the open PDF standard, Microsoft is once again accused of creating proprietary standards to monopolize markets and exclude competitors via its Windows monopoly. Critics argue that XPS is designed to give Microsoft and copyright holders unlimited control over consumers' rights. Also many critics doubt the value of creating a competing, non-conforming standard where an open, ISO standard already exists.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ At the time of this writing, Adobe Reader is 20.8 MB in size, and Microsoft's XPS Essentials Pack is 7.2 MB in size. View and Generate XPS. Microsoft.. Adobe Reader Download. Adobe.
- ^ http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/hwrequirements.mspx
- ^ http://softwareimaging.com/xps
- ^ http://www.pagemarktechnology.com
- ^ http://www.infograph.com/press/igcmsxps.htm
- ^ http://nixps.com
- ^ http://www.zoran.com/IPS-XPS
- ^ XML Paper Specification Licensing, Microsoft. Retrieved on June 8, 2006.
