Microsoft Strips PDF Support From 2007 Office

[GomJabbar]

Bowing To Adobe, Microsoft Strips PDF Support From 2007 Office

Microsoft's latest Office 2007 beta includes both PDF and its own rival XPS document format among the options for exporting data. In talks with Microsoft over the past several months, Adobe expressed concern that Microsoft's PDF and XPS moves would significantly cut into Adobe's market, which includes distribution of its Acrobat products for reading and working with PDFs.

Consequently, Microsoft no longer plans to include PDF export as a default option in Office 2007, Drake said. Users who want it will need to visit Microsoft's Web site and download a patch to restore the functionality.
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Microsoft's concessions may not let it avoid a legal showdown with Adobe. Microsoft's general counsel told the Wall Street Journal that Adobe has threatened legal action unless Microsoft agrees to charge for the PDF support patch, a step it refuses to take. Adobe's spokeswoman did not confirm or deny to the WSJ that the company is considering legal action.

[greg025]

Note that Adobe also demanded that Microsoft charge for Microsofts own XML export format.

Further in the article it notes that both OpenOffice and Apples word processing software is allowed to export to PDF for free - just not Microsoft...

[GomJabbar]

Well, OpenOffice is free. I have it on my ThinkPad, but I only use it for Word compatibility when I need it. I normally use Word Perfect 11 and it lets me create PDF's when I need to.

I can see why Adobe might let OpenOffice create PDF's for free, but not Microsoft. Microsoft is like "The Blob" - out to consume everything. It's like some giant amoeba or macrophage. If Adobe isn't careful, they could be a future victim.

I really don't know enough about Apple to reply about that.

[bill bolton]

Microsoft is like "The Blob"

Personally I feel more that way about Adobe than Microsoft. Some of Adobe's EULA policies are becoming very difficult to live with!

Cheers,

Bill

[GomJabbar]

Personally I feel more that way about Adobe than Microsoft. Some of Adobe's EULA policies are becoming very difficult to live with!

Since I only use Adobe Reader from Adobe, which is free, I have not had to deal with any EULA issues. I'll take your word for it though.

[KristianJ]

There are enough freeware PDF exporting alternatives that are compatible with Office 2003 and earlier anyway - it's a bit disappointing though that Adobe are so concerned with MS incorporating it into 07 (it's one of the main reasons why I'm using the beta)