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Just weeks after Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) acquired Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) in a long-term move to compete with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), the Windows maker is striking back with a new product designed to overtake the graphics company's popular Portable Document Format.
Microsoft's Longhorn, the software giant's next version of Windows, will include Metro, an application that allows users to create files that can be printed, viewed or archived without requiring the program that created them.
Neither Adobe or Microsoft are calling the Metro versus PDF story an all-out war, but some analysts see an eventual battle brewing in the print format arena.
PDF Threat?
Directions on Microsoft senior analyst Greg DeMichillie told TechNewsWorld that Microsoft's clear intent is to replace PDF as the universal way of exchanging documents."Microsoft has ignored PDF for a long time and watched it become the standard way for users who want to share documents on the Internet," DeMichellie said. "Microsoft doesn't like that because if people exchange documents in PDF format, then it weakens the hold of Office as the program you must have."
Cross-Platform Capability
Analysts said part of the reason PDF has been so successful is because Adobe has developed readers for every conceivable operating system. Microsoft's current version of cross platform is limited to XP and Longhorn support.
"It's the ubiquity of the Adobe reader that makes PDF so attractive to government agencies and companies publishing annual reports and other information," he said. "It would be very unlike Microsoft to produce a reader that can work everywhere. We can be darn certain that Microsoft won't be developing a Linux reader."
DeMichellie said unless Microsoft steps up to the plate to address cross-platform issues, or, alternatively, offers new features not available in
PDF, Adobe should be able to maintain its stronghold in the printable document format world.
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