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Adobe’s PDF (Portable Document Format) standard was first released in 1993 and has become one of the most widely used file formats for exchanging electronic documents. Today Adobe announced that PDF version 1.7 is being turned over to AIIM, the Enterprise Content Management Association, for eventual publication by ISO (the International Organization for Standardization). |
Reasons for the success of the PDF file format include:
- Precise Rendering
- Compact Storage
- Cross-Platform Compatibility
- Security
PDF has been an Open format. When first released, Adobe granted a royalty-free license for building PDF-capable applications. But while the PDF file format has been open and published, it has also been totally under the control of Adobe.
AIIM has already been administering some specialized versions of the PDF file format, such as PDF/A (PDF for Archive), PDF/E (PDF for Engineering) and PDF/UA (PDF for Universal Access). And of these, PDF/A is alsready an ISO standard.
The move by Adobe follows a threat by Adobe last summer to sue Microsoft for including a ’save as PDF’ option as part of Office 2007. Microsoft eventually dropped the feature. The move should also be looked favorably on by some governments that have been reluctant to adopt PDF as a standard because of its proprietary nature.
