When Microsoft’s long-awaited Longhorn operating system is finally rolled out later this year or early next year it will include a new document format that they have dubbed “Metro.” Metro is based on XML (extensible markup language), and is expected to rival Adobe’s PDF (portable document format).
According to Computer World, “The Metro technology is likely to go head-to-head with Adobe’s PostScript technology. ‘It is a potential Adobe killer,’ said Richard Doherty, research director with The Envisioneering Group in Seaford, New York. ‘But this is just the first warning shot. Adobe could put something that is even more compelling [on top of] Longhorn.’”
Metro will be licensed royalty-free. Users will not need a special client in order to open the Metro files and the printing of the files are expected to deliver better and faster results than the current PDF files. Bill Gates made this announcement Monday in Seattle as part of the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC).
In addition to Metro, Gates also announced the introduction of 64-bit Windows operating systems and predicted that 64-bit hardware would be mainstream on servers by the end of the year.
What these two announcements mean to the end user is: better and faster. Better and faster printing and better and faster servers and end user PC’s. It’s good to see that after a couple of years on cruise control that Microsoft has finally decided to once again take innovation by the horns, or the Longhorn as it may be.
