The product formerly code-named “Metro” is now the XML Paper Specification (XPS). You can read the Metro Specification and Reference Guide (ah, the good ol’ days when it was still “Metro”) and read about how it’s integrated in Windows Vista
To ensure cross-platform portability and device independence of XPS-based packages and XPS Documents, the XML Paper Specification is open and publicly available.
I love that. “So we can continue our quest of global domination, we’ll let you create documents using our specs and products that work with documents using our specs.”
It actually gets a little complex. There are both XPS Packages and XPS Documents. The “XPS packages are programmatically created and accessed through the packaging model.” Their physical format under Windows Vista is a ZIP file. XPS Packages also contain metadata, which “describes the content and use, and is discoverable (along with its package structure) through the XPS package APIs.” Sounds like a good place for “bad” (i.e. potentially sensitive) metadata to live.
The XPS Document is a “specific implementation of an XPS package designed to address the information worker’s requirements for distributing, archiving, rendering, and processing documents.” It is application independent and does not require the original program to view or print (like a PDF). It’s very, very integrated into Windows Vista:
Effectively, the XPS Document defines the default electronic paper object for Windows Vista, and is a native spool file format in the Windows Vista print architecture, as well as the native Windows Presentation Foundation print output.
(Windows Presentation Foundation was formerly known as “Avalon”.)
I don’t quite get this part:
The XPS Document uses a well-defined and fixed-format layout, including pagination for its content, while still allowing for forward- and backward-compatibility with versioning, or extensions for other value-added scenarios.
I’m fine with the “fixed-format layout” and pagination. I’m unsure what exactly the “versioning, or extensions for other value-added scenarios” entail. It’s backward-compatible with what exactly?
What’s lacking from all this is its impact on Office 12. Office 12 does not require Windows Vista to run. Will it be able to read/write XPS Documents?