Friday, September 05, 2008
Spindrift on XPS and NiXPS
Spindrift is a newsletter published by Digital Dots, an independent, and respected, graphic arts research group.
In their latest issue they publish an extensive article on XPS, written by Laurel Brunner.
The article is noteworthy for the fact that it acknowledges the current viewpoint in the graphic arts that XPS is regarded as a complete waste of time and space, but Spindrift arguments against it.
My personal experiences with meeting graphical arts people all around the world are somewhat similar.
Of course this is a feeling that is based on subjective arguments (Microsoft is no good, Adobe is king), rather than on objective arguments.
Not that subjective arguments are not important; perception and emotions around products (and standards) are indeed very important, but I'm inclined to think that at the end of the day it are the objective arguments that make the most sense, and will be used as a basis by customers taking business decisions.
In the article quite a number of objective arguments are presented in favor of XPS, and why dismissing it is foolish.
Most of the arguments are along the lines of the top 9 benefits I posted earlier.
But a few new ones. Like the fact that being XML based, XPS has some inherent advantages over PDF as a platform for applications like variable data output. Even against Adobe's recent catch-up with yet another PDF flavor called PDF/VT.
NiXPS is also featured in the article as one of the new generation XPS developers.
And the focus is put on our NiXPS Edit application, which provides one of the missing links in an XPS work flow: corrective editing.
Spindrift believes, and I quote:
Amen to that. ¶ 10:32
In their latest issue they publish an extensive article on XPS, written by Laurel Brunner.
The article is noteworthy for the fact that it acknowledges the current viewpoint in the graphic arts that XPS is regarded as a complete waste of time and space, but Spindrift arguments against it.
My personal experiences with meeting graphical arts people all around the world are somewhat similar.
Of course this is a feeling that is based on subjective arguments (Microsoft is no good, Adobe is king), rather than on objective arguments.
Not that subjective arguments are not important; perception and emotions around products (and standards) are indeed very important, but I'm inclined to think that at the end of the day it are the objective arguments that make the most sense, and will be used as a basis by customers taking business decisions.
In the article quite a number of objective arguments are presented in favor of XPS, and why dismissing it is foolish.
Most of the arguments are along the lines of the top 9 benefits I posted earlier.
But a few new ones. Like the fact that being XML based, XPS has some inherent advantages over PDF as a platform for applications like variable data output. Even against Adobe's recent catch-up with yet another PDF flavor called PDF/VT.
NiXPS is also featured in the article as one of the new generation XPS developers.
And the focus is put on our NiXPS Edit application, which provides one of the missing links in an XPS work flow: corrective editing.
Spindrift believes, and I quote:
... everyone who cares about the future of print media production landscape believes XPS could open up the market for corporate print like never before.
Amen to that. ¶ 10:32
