Office 12 to Export to PDF

w00t first

i dunno why adobe would let this happen but it certainly is a boon for us office users...... :) its not like free alternatives havent been available, so i dont think that they made a deal or anything, but still.... i think adobe will let it slife and continue making Acrobat better than just a plain exporter

Basic exports to PDF from Word are already free, via some third party applications. For example, current versions of PDF Creator and Primo PDF already do an excellent job of printing a basic PDF file.

For more options (such as controlling security levels, enabling hyperlinks, adjusting compression, etc.), ITEKSOFT's eDocPrinter PDF Pro (whichI use, to my satisfaction) or FinePrint's PDF Factory are neither expensive nor difficult to use.

So, just as MS tries to catch up to Firefox or elements of the MAC OS, we can see that they are not the market or innovation leaders that they claim to be, or would like us to believe, are they?

In fact, it might be fair to say that MS is the behemoth cannibal of software innovation.

Doesn't this seem like Microsoft's effort to respond to Massachusetts's new policy of demanding open source document formats. This is the best way that I can think of to allow Microsoft to put its product into compliance without actually having to do anything to open up its own document standards. Even better for Microsoft, the approved pdf format is of limited use to many users pdf files are relatively hard to edit; that will mean that most Microsoft product users will probably continue to use Microsoft's proprietary formats for their work, only to archive an "official" pdf version for state compliance reasons.

Why do you suppose MS doesn't want to add PDF creation in the print dialog so that any application that can print can also export to pdf? (MacOSX has been doing that for years.) Ya suppose it's because they want to make sure you can't do it easily when using a competitor to Office? Ya think?

And I've got 50 bucks that says within 3 years you won't be able to read/open an Office-created PDF file with anything other than Office.

Ok. So now they suddenly support PDF. Why not OASIS OpenDocument then?

A reply to w00t first

PDF is an open standard the day Adobe launched the first version of Acrobat in 1993. Hence anyone who swishes to create a product that generates PDF files can do so without seeking any permission from and without paying any fees or royalto to Adobe Systems Inc.

Say, Orez Ero: Do you honestly believe that Microsoft just decided to add PDF capabilities to Office after the Massachusetts decision? How fast do you think the company moves? This must've been in the works for months; the timing is strictly PR.

A reply to Thing:

What the heck is OASIS OpenDocument? Not that I have anything against alternative file formats, but PDF files have been around for over a decade and are quite popular, to say the least. If they're gonna add a feature, doesn't it make sense to add one that almost everybody who uses the software can make use of? You know, you can always find a reason to bash a company on matter which company it is or what the reason is. Time to grow up people. Not everything Microsoft does is bad for us. If it was, then trust me, their market share wouldn't be near what it is. Adding PDF support to Office is a good feature enhancement, but I doubt it's meant to be a huge selling point. I'm much more interested in the new interface, even if it wasn't going to have PDF support.

As am mac OSX user I have been saving Office docs as PDFs through the print command "Save as PDF" for the past 2 years already.

has anyone thought about the fact that apple is eyeing to purchase adobe?