Las Vegas, USA, 30 November 2006 – At the Autodesk University, Autodesk, Inc., announced collaboration with Microsoft Corporation to seamlessly integrate DWF technology with Windows Vista using the XML Paper Specification (XPS).
This initiative will provide users with the ability to view and manage DWF detail-rich design information without requiring additional downloads of plug-ins or special viewing software. The result of the two companies’ expanded strategic alliance will simplify and extend project teams’ collaboration for greater efficiency and productivity.
DWF files published to the XPS specification can be automatically opened and viewed directly in Windows Vista using the XPS Viewer. Project team members can use Microsoft Corp.’s forthcoming software right out of the box to review designs in digital format. As part of the announcement, Autodesk will incorporate support for publishing DWF files to the XPS specification.
“Together with Autodesk, we are bringing the powerful capabilities of Windows Vista and XPS to the CAD software space, expanding our customers’ horizons when it comes to sharing and collaborating on design information,” said Sanjay Parthasarathy, Corporate Vice President, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group at Microsoft.
Windows Vista and XPS will allow CAD users and their teammates to collaborate productively through the operating system’s advanced search capabilities, and provide richer, more precise design content for customers. DWF encapsulates the rich details of designs, maps and data in compact, high-fidelity files, so that designers can easily share specific ideas with their suppliers, contractors and customers.
The recipient will be able to instantly review designs using built-in Windows Vista tools. Where users once risked loss of detail and communication of design intent to paper and other file formats, they can now know their teams will have specific information, deeper insight and a rich understanding of designs without needing to become expert in design software.
In addition to automatic DWF file viewing, the Windows Vista desktop search function will make it easier and faster for customers to find relevant design files with Live Icons and Preview Pane features. For example, a product designer can search for files based on specifications, designs, or any piece of related data such as an address or supplier’s name.
Regardless of where the information is stored, Windows Vista returns Live Icons — thumbnail images of files retrieved — that let the designer see files’ general content at a glance and choose the right one, without scrolling through a conventional text directory and checking large files that can take as much as several minutes to open. The designer might choose to search for meta-data tags instead, and use the search function’s preview pane to confirm which file is the one sought.
– About XML Paper Specification (XPS)
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). XPS, however, is a static document format that does not include dynamic capabilities similar to those of PDF.
