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Printing is an operating system function. Just install cutePDF, then everything that can print can print to PDF.

If you don't want to use PDFCreator, or the built-in Save As PDF... feature - you can use:
http://www.cutepdf.com/
http://www.nitropdf.com/
http://www.primopdf.com/

Many applications can already export directly to PDF on exactly the terms you've described, and there are things like CutePDF that will allow you to "print" from any application to a PDF file with a couple of clicks under Windows. On Mac OS X and Linux platforms, you can typically just save any document as a PDF file, at least from most native apps. The capabilities you're describing are already in place, and there's no need to worry about strictly text and image-based docs you've created falling prey to any sort of vulnerability, at least not in the scope you've described.

Instead of pdfcreator I prefer CutePDF Writer ( http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/Writer.asp ) as it doesn't have as many confusing ( to non-computer literate people ) options and just works. :)

I love PDFs, but not so much Reader. It's more of a necessary evil... although for most purposes I could probably get away with using an alternative PDF viewer.

I always install a PDF printer (PDFCreator is a nice one, but if you just want something vanilla then CutePDF Writer usually does the job). Then I use it for anything that says "print this page for your records". Digital, indexable copy of whatever it is, arranged by the date I printed it, with no wasted paper or ink.

Short of PDF, I don't know what else you'd use... XPS? XPS is just as bad as PDF, except it's from Microsoft instead of Adobe. Wait... does that make it as bad, or worse? Nobody uses XPS.

What I do hate, with a fucking passion, are protected PDFs. Especially since CutePDF tends to crash (prints an error message document) when you try to print a protected PDF through it to remove the protection... this is, in fact, one of the only uses I've ever had for the MS XPS Document Writer (sometimes it'll succeed where CutePDF or PDFCreator fail, then I can reprint the XPS as a PDF).

The freeware but not open source CutePDF meets all of my needs to print documents to PDF from anything (not a PDF editor, but as I don't publish docs I don't care to create a native PDF). That might hold you over if your needs are light.

Also if you want to create pdf files without paying the adobe tax, check out CutePDF writer. It has to be one of the best free PDF creaters i've found for windows. I also have this on all of the office PCs.. http://www.cutepdf.com/

Microsoft document imaging? I still show the image writer printer being there...?

Also if you just want to print things to PDF (not edit them) check out

Cute PDF at http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

It adds a PDF-printer that you print to, then type in a file name, and viola!

Free, to boot.

Don't forget about CutePDF:

http://cutepdf.com/

(excluding already mentioned ones in up-moded replies)

NOD32 - probably least bloated antivirus, I don't notice it on 5 year old PC (even better when you turn off IMON module)

Google Talk (native Windows client) - while it doesn't have all the functionality of Skype (notably landline calling and video)...well, just compare them. Bonus: while Skype and Gtalk are roughly the same, quality-wise, on fast connection, Gtalk wins hands-down on slower ones.

Combined Community Coded Pack (CCCP :P - http://cccp-project.net/ ) - pretty much created because the authors had enough of bloat in other solutions.

CutePDF Writer ( http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp ) - PDF printer, considerably outperforms PDFCreator (from Sourceforge) when creating laaarge documents.

Dorgem, Fwink - light webcam software, both on Surceforge.

Speedfan ( http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php ) - very light temp/fan speed/SMART monitoring app.

Most apps from Slysoft.

Official Last.fm player - quite good considering its download size and RAM usage (and well...basically its running all the time here)

Winrar - for a long time I'd recommend 7zip...but really, Winrar isn't that much heavier, but is...considerably faster than 7zip in decompressing large RAR archives here.

I can't speak about the rest, but I can overcome #1 rather quickly with a couple of free options:

CutePDF - The basic version is free as in beer; I've used this quite successfully on Office 2000-2003 documents, as well as Visio diagrams. It creates a virtual printer that you print your document to.

PDFCreator - A quick Google search found this Sourceforge project that is GPL'd and was at least reasonably active last year. I've never tried it, but it appears the concept is similar to CutePDF.

Keep in mind that both of these products can print just about anything, including Office documents. Also, as for #3, it's my understanding that Office has a number of collaboration tools specifically to address situations like this, at least from Office 2003 and on. I haven't had the pleasure of working with them, so I'm not entirely sure how well they work. I have used Google Docs and it has a rather nifty collaboration package, however, that seems to mimic the functionality you're describing, with the ability to roll back to previous versions of a document and the like.

• CutePDF [cutepdf.com
  
• PDF Redirect [exp-systems.com]
  

CutePDF.

• CutePDF
  
• PDF Redirect
  

Not only necessary for lawsuit avoidance, but also necessary for choice. The more we paid in license fees, the more I began to advocate free software.
Example: Everybody(small 25user office) wanted to be able to make PDFs. Instead of buying Acrobat Standard(300x25=$7500), I installed PDFCreator or CutePDF writer or PDF Split-and-merge. When they asked for Photoshop(650x25=$16,250), I installed The GIMP. I'm not saying these free products are better in EVERY way, but they got the job done and made me look good. It's an eye-opener for end-users when they realize that there is so much good free software out there. Standing there and spouting off about how great Linux is won't get you anywhere - delivering results like this will.

This really paves the way for desktop Linux. I'm always hearing horror-stories about the BSA marching in with a search warrant and seizing your servers and half your desktops, as evidence. That could ruin your whole day.

To find a PDF Writer for Windoze - goto http://www.cutepdf.com/

What's wrong with CutePDF?

Here is another tool that acts as a printer driver. I've installed it on all our workstations at work, and everybody loves it.

CutePDF

XML format: If I want a good XML file format, I'd sooner trust OpenOffice

XPS: why would I want that?

PDF: you can get decent PDF creation with free software. There are a bunch of different options. I like CutePDF

Blogging: Who in their right mind would pay hundreds of dollars for a Microsoft Word upgrade, just so they can use Word to post to their blog? There are loads of ways to post to your weblog, free options, and MS Word seems like it's more than overkill. In fact, for what most people use Word for, it's overkill.

yeah, like anybody is going to trust a company that bundles spyware with their products

So we'll just download CutePDF for free. Next problem.

There's no need to install OpenOffice.org. Install:

http://www.cutepdf.com/download/converter.exe
http://www.cutepdf.com/download/CuteWriter.exe

That will give you a PDF printer device, to which you can print from ANY application. It will prompt you for a filename, and generate the PDF.

There's no need to install OpenOffice.org. Install:

http://www.cutepdf.com/download/converter.exe
http://www.cutepdf.com/download/CuteWriter.exe

That will give you a PDF printer device, to which you can print from ANY application. It will prompt you for a filename, and generate the PDF.

If you're on Windose, try CutePDF Writer then, it act's as a printer driver using ps2pdf so any application can create pdf's.

You may want to try the freeware version of CutePdf for creating PDFs. It installs as a printer driver and works great from Word, Quicken/Quickbooks, etc.

Seriously, why doesn't anyone mention MS Office?

Visio and Access for rapidly and easily designing and prototyping, powerpoint for presentations. There are other applications that can replace Word and Excel, but they don't support ythe same level of integration. Just drag and drop a table from Excel into a Word document.

Because Office doesn't support exporting to PDF yet, you'll need CutePDF writer: http://www.cutepdf.com/

Yup, Ghostscript is very handy. On Windows, CutePDF and PDF Creator both wrap the Ghostscript engine in a friendly-to-non-techies UI.

Finally, saving as PDF should be offered by more programs.

For Windows there's CutePDF and for Linux there are options too, not to mention the tried-and-true ps2pdf...

Not that I don't agree that it shouldn't be supported natively, but there are options...

So by doing a print to pdf (or print to postscript and ps2pdf) you can achieve a basic PDF without any of the more complex features... Often such PDFs will be of very poor quality, and using rasterised text instead of properly rendered fonts for instance..

FWIW, CutePDF (which is basically a Windows printing subsystem wrapper for Ghostscript) produces PDFs with text that can be selected and copied/pasted. Size, style, and font information get preserved for common fonts so you can paste text into a word processor (or whatever) that looks identical to what was in the PDF. For less-common fonts, while the appearance of the font is preserved in the PDF, a standard font gets substituted (the size and style are still preserved).

Printing to the "MS Publisher Color Printer" driver (which generates PostScript output) and washing this through Ghostscript to create a PDF produces similar results.

Agh! You forgot the bestest free one there is, http://www.cutepdf.com/!

Creates a virtual printer you print to, then the print driver asks for a filename for the resulting pdf. Brilliant stuff.

I know exactly why nobody uses XML and everyone uses PDF.

XML has absolutely NO software support. I can painstakingly write this great XML file by hand, using either a long, complex Tutorial which I can hopefully bend to my needs, or by reading the several pages of specification packed with technical garbage. Fine. Now what the fuck do I view it in? What do my recipients view it in?

On the other hand, to create a PDF, I can create the content with my application of choice and print to a PDF distiller (of which there's a bunch of free ones, mostly relying on GhostScript). A PDF viewer is already installed on almost every user's machine, and are available in any size (from minimal to bloated) for any platform.

When XML becomes just as easy to use (create document, export / print, e-mail) then it has a small, tiny chance to become relevant in the document space.

Other than what MightyYar and eMartin have already posted, CutePDF works amazingly well. Best part is its FREE free (no watermark, expiry dates, etc) and is just a frontend to Alladin Ghostscript.

http://www.cutepdf.com/

Been using it for years. Great printer driver; It just works. Even with my CAD application.

would be to have a system wide PDF printer driver, like MacOS X has.

No, but I do know of several free PDF creators. Like another poster said, PDF is not meant for documents that need further editing.

Note, the above links are not endorsements or recommendations

On Windows, it's easiest to create a PDF printer, using either Cute PDF or FreePDF XP. Both products are simply a wrapper for AFPL Ghostscript, and create a printer that you can print to from any application to create a PDF. Oh, and they're free (beer I think).

I even find that they produce better PDFs than Adobe Distiller a fair bit of the time.

Cute PDF
FreePDF XP

By the way, every single Office app other than MS Office and every single OS other than Windows include some kind of free PDF printing capability.

Here's the one I use. Very easy to use.

Aye... or CutePDF!

There are other good suggestions here (a linux box running samba, works well and is pretty easy; and PDFCreator), but I'll throw in one more: Cute PDF Writer
Works real well; installs as a virtual printer probably like your "print to pdf" program that you're shelling out money for...CutePDF is free and works like a charm; however it requires installing GhostScript on the PC.