To the list of companies who overnight find themselves competing
with Microsoft, you can add one more name: Adobe.
Microsoft Longhorn operating system will now include a graphics
feature called Metro that allows documents to be displayed and
created across platforms.
Sound familiar?
Only Microsoft's tool seems designed to bridge the gap that
exists between displaying the same unaltered document on
PC
s and mobile devices, as the
XML
-based
Metro will display documents via Internet Explorer.
That's a gap Adobe also appears ready to close through its $4.3
billion acquisition of Macromedia, announced last week. Ovum senior
analyst Bola Rotibi believes one outcome of Adobe's decision to buy
Macromedia could be to make Adobe's
PDF
available on
mobile devices.
Metro, though, raises the stakes against Adobe and sends a
message Microsoft is pitching Longhorn as a platform that serves
the needs of "pervasive computing" – a term loosely defined as
rich-client access to data from any desktop or mobile device using
a variety of interfaces.
Apparently recognizing that potential, Microsoft's chairman and
chief software architect, said of Metro at the Windows Hardware
Engineering Conference (WinHEC): "You can create these documents on
any platform and consume them on any device of your choosing."
Microsoft is taking the added step of releasing the draft Metro
specification on a Royalty Free (
RF
) basis. A
RF
license is a great way to seed the market, because
it encourages early uptake by developers looking out for new APIs
without fear of patent or license fee concerns.
If a Gates' WinHEC demonstration of Metro is to be believed,
users saving Microsoft Office applications and digital photos will
automatically generate Metro documents with their files. These
Metro files can then either be distributed to other users or sent
for printing. Metro is apparently built on top of Longhorn's
XML
-based Avalon interface.
Gates demonstrated a Metro document being printed using a Xerox
printer featuring a Metro engine. Gates claimed the set-up could
print between 40% and 70% faster than a conventional printer while
retaining a high-quality feel to graphics.
In related Longhorn news, Microsoft outlined the operating
system's hardware requirements. Microsoft is recommending a
"modern"
CPU
, 512Mb of RAM and Longhorn display driver
capable graphics. Microsoft did not share details on what it
defined as "modern". From experience, though, such recommendations
are normally a basic minimum.
Gates also announced general availability of the 64-bit editions
of Windows
XP
Professional and Windows Server
2003.
