From rinehuls@access.digex.net Thu Jul 31 19:26:51 1997 Received: from access2.digex.net (qlrhmEbBUV1EY@access2.digex.net [205.197.245.193]) by dkuug.dk (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id TAA21737 for ; Thu, 31 Jul 1997 19:26:49 +0200 Received: from localhost (rinehuls@localhost) by access2.digex.net (8.8.4/8.8.4) with SMTP id NAA09869 for ; Thu, 31 Jul 1997 13:26:46 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 13:26:46 -0400 (EDT) From: "william c. rinehuls" To: sc22docs@dkuug.dk Subject: SC22 N2537 - WG9 Request to Add Postscript to Acceptable Distribution Formats - SC22 PLENARY AGENDA ITEM Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ________________ beginning of title page _________________________ ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces Secretariat: U.S.A. (ANSI) ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N2537 August 1997 SUBJECT: Request from SC22/WG9 to Add Postscript to List of Acceptable Distribution Formats SOURCE: Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 WORK ITEM: N/A STATUS: This request will be considered at the August 1997 JTC 1/SC22 Plenary under new agenda item 8.4.4. CROSS REFERENCE: N/A DOCUMENT TYPE: N/A ACTION: To SC22 Member Bodies for review. Address reply to: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat William C. Rinehuls 8457 Rushing Creek Court Springfield, VA 22153 USA Tel: +1 (703) 912-9680 Fax: +1 (703) 912-2973 email: rinehuls@access.digex.net ______________ end of title page; beginning of text _________________ From: Jim Moore, Convener, SC22/WG9 Subj: Postscript versus PDF As a part of JTC1's plan to convert to electronic document distribution, JTC1 has designated a list of acceptable file formats for document distribution. At the recent meeting of SC22/WG9, we discussed the list and generally agreed -- with one exception. The purpose of this note is to describe that one area of disagreement and to request the support of SC22 in seeking a change by JTC1. We request that the list be changed to add PostScript. Postscript and PDF are intended for slightly different purposes. Postscript is already the de facto standard for portable printing; Adobe is positioning PDF as the de facto standard for portable, on-line document distribution. Their characteristics overl ap in some useful areas: - Both permit the distribution of documents in a non-revisable format. - Both retain the integrity of pagination in the distributed form. (This is not an inherent property of PostScript but is generally true as implemented.) - Both can be readily viewed and printed on a wide variety of platforms via readers that are available for free. For the use intended by JTC1, Postscript has an important advantage over PDF. Virtually all document or word processing systems are able to produce PostScript documents. One simply uses a PostScript printer driver with its output directed to a file rather than a device. Few systems, if any, support the direct production of PDF. Instead, the output document (ironically, often in Postscript form) must be converted to PDF by the use of a program which must be purchased. The price of the program is between $200 and $300 US. Apparently, those who prefer PDF make this preference because of a view that variabilities among PostScript versions hamper portability. Until recently, I believed this myself. I have now verified, though, the availablity and usability of two software programs, GhostScript and GhostView, that permit the easy handling of all varieties of PostScript documents on a wide variety of platforms, including Unix, MacIntosh, and PC (including Windows 3.1 and 95). The utilities permit one to view PostScript documents in paginated form and to print them -- even on non-PostScript printers. The utilities are available for free -- they are free software, not shareware -- and they have been successfully used by many different users in different environments. With the availability of these utilities, it would be inappropriate to force project editors to purchase special purpose tools at significant expense. Therefore, WG9 requests the support of SC22 in requesting that Postscript be added to the list of acceptable distribution formats. Regards, Jim Moore ___________________ end of SC22 N2537 ______________________________