Slashdot Mirror

The ads don't appear if the PDF is printed.

Looks like I'll be "printing" my PDFs to PDF995 from now on.

Here's one. It's pretty cheap too (or free, depends if you mind it opening a web page whenever it prints reminding you that for $10 you can remove the pop-up).

There are substantially cheaper ways of implementing PDF functionality in Office then buying Adobe's Acrobat product just for a plugin. If you want to use a commercial product, there is always http://www.pdf995.com/ which is substantially cheaper than Acrobat. There is also http://sector7g.wurzel6.de/pdfcreator/index_en.htm for substantially cheaper still. Neither of these products are going to give you the wizbang super duper features Acrobat does but, you know what, they aren't missed 99% percent of the time unless you job entails sending print once documents which are also forms with drop-down lists that need umpteen different encryption schemes tacked onto them and self-destruct when the moon is inline with Jupiter on the summer solstice.

Cliff

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.

There are a few.

http://www.primopdf.com/

http://www.pdf995.com/

http://sector7g.wurzel6.de/pdfcreator/index_en.htm

http://www.paehl.com/pdf/

PDF995, which is ad-supported (or was last I used it).

PDFCreator, which is free and open-source.

I know there are others, those are just the two I've used - successfully, I might add.

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

The irony is that my Apple fanboyishness led me to this PDF printer driver in the quest for "My Mac does it, why can't my soggy Windows work laptop do it?"

Works pretty decently and the only "cost" is a popup ad.

Not as nice as OS X's integrated PDF output (nor is there as remotely elegant a PDF reader on Windows as Preview.app on OS X), but does the job quite well from any Windows app.

I also believe Office intends to save to a compressed XML format natively, based on whatever press releases they have put out recently.

Strangely relevant is that I'm currently (finally) reading The Cathedral & the Bazaar which, as many readers of this site are probably aware (no really, not trying to karma-whore here!), has a lot of things to say about the consequences of keeping your code and standards private.

I really don't get why Microsoft even bothered to keep their file format closed to begin with. There could have been a whole cottage industry set up by now to manipulate the data in those difficult-to-decipher closed binary file formats... the economy of which surely would have (ultimately) added to MS's bottom line, because they would have (in theory) produced the best tools.

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. And, of course, there are free PDF making tools for Windows

Or use pdf995. It's free as long as you will let it pull up an ad when you save the file...

I find that, for free, it's an excellent way to make .pdfs out of anything that you can print (note: it installs itself as a windows printer)

Or it may be that the Windows version of OpenOffice was cobbled together by brain-damaged monkeys.

Possibly, but they're the best damned brain dead monkies that money couldn't buy!

Besides, I doubt that OpenOffice is inherently unstable. I started using it exclusively now, and apart from minor irritations (such as spacing inconsistencies when converting to/from MSOffice), I've never run into any serious issues. I've used it for some very large projects (such as essays that I will leave running in the taskbar for days at a time while I "research"), and I've also used it to take notes (daily).

If I did have any issues with OpenOffice, they woul be with the automatic PDF generation. It's a wonderful tool, and every office app should have it, BUT... Under windows, I use a different program to make PDFs (PDF995 - a free virual "printer" that makes PDFs), and I find it outputs much higher quality PDF's that are SMALLER in size. (For example, when I'm making a Resume, it goes to 30k (pdf995), from 60k (oo.org pdf)) Not that big of a deal, but when emailing resumes, it makes a difference.

However, since this only works in windows, and it's not "open source" (AFAIK), it's not a solution for everyone.

-Lucas

Ever heard of PDF995? At the least you could pdf your statements. There are a number of ways of storing your statements. If you cant get your statements from 6 months ago because you didnt save them it's your fault, not theirs.

I am lenient in consideration of your low slashdot number ;-)

On windows, there is a very excellent add supported/cheap converter called PDF995. You can get rid of the adds for $10 per person (less in volume). They also have an app called PDFEdit995 which allows you to do lots of modifications and offers lots of utilites, and Signature995 which allows for encryption and digital signatures. I have found the quaility to be better than GhostScript.

PDF995 is a (non-open-source, ad-supported) application that sits between your Windows printer driver and ps2pdf, and streamlines the process. I love it... it's made out of open-source parts, but it's not open-source itself though. sorry. ^_^

Actually, PDF995 sounds a lot like PDFCreator; I'm gonna check PDFCreator out.

I guess the problem with a solution like PDF995, ps2pdf, and PDFCreator is that they're not complete tools that would bridge your gap between SQL queries and finished PDF... probably the best bet is to install PHP for Windows, along with the LDF libraries.

no need to spend hundreds on Acrobat

pdf995 also prevents you from spending hundreds on Acrobat.

I'm not saying one suite is better than the other, but what I do know is this:
a) Most companies use Office, so sending docs back and forth between companies using Office guarantees you can share documents
b) OpenOffice doesn't always open Office things right (Word tables, bullet lists, as some previous comment on this story explained.)

Then, there is the support issue...

PDF995 is a shareware (free version pops up a web page every time you use it) app that does exactly that. Plus, if you want to register it it's only $9.95 (hence the name). It's great. You can set up the same thing with all free software, but it's a pain. PDF995 takes the pain out of making PDFs for free on Windows. That said, I use OOo. It rocks.

OO.org is SO slashdotted right now, it isn't even funny... As such, I have no way of finding out the answer to my question:

Does the OS X version make use of the groovy "Aqua" gui yet, or is it still kludged on top of X for OS X? That's the barrier to getting mass testing/deployment on the Macinotsh... There certainly is no love lost between Mac users and Redmond.

I could easily see the "De facto" format for document distribution becoming the PDF... Originally, that would have been ineffecient (due to people using modems for internet connectivity,) but now, especially as bandwidth available to users goes up over time with increased availability of cable/dsl/dedicated T1... After a while it won't matter how HUGE long PDF files can bceome.

Windows users can make PDFs for free, right now, thanks to this program. (Or you can pay $10 and not see pop-up ads when you launch the program.) I don't see why anybody wouldn't start doing it, as sort of a one man protest.

Signature995 and pdfedit995 are also part of their suite of 'free' apps to create/edit pdf documents.

Or you can essentially automate the process using PDF995. And it's free too.

You could also use redmon, available at the ghostscript site, and follow the instructions in the online help file on how to set up a RPT1: (or as I like to call it PDF:) printer port, which will automatically prompt for a filename, and converts ps to pdf on the fly, no cygwin neccesary.

For added coolpoints, you could use the Adobe Acrobat Distiller PPDs for the postscript printer that's attached to the PDF: port - this will allow custom "paper" sizes for example.

You will either need the adobe ps driver (winsteng.zip), or use the following oemsetup.ini for windows 2000/xp

--------
[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
Provider=%slashdot%
ClassGUID={4D36E979-E32 5-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Class=Printer
[Manufac turer]
%slashdot%=slashdot
[slashdot]
"Adobe Acrobat Distiller"=ADIST5.PPD

[OEM URLS]

[ADIST5.PPD]
CopyFiles=@ADIST5.PPD,PSCRIPT
Dat aSection=PSCRIPT_DATA
Include=ntprint.inf
Needs= PSCRIPT.OEM, PSCRIPT_DATA

[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir=66000

[SourceDisksNames]
4= %DiskID1%,,,

[SourceDisksFiles]
ADIST5.PPD = 4

[Strings]
DiskID1="ADIST5"
slashdot="slashdot"
--------

Tell all your friends about redmon!! Redmon rules!

For click-monkeys, you can also use pdf995 a commercial distro which installs ghostscript in a hidden away directory (no source! GPL??) and has its own redmon-alike functionality. The PPD used is from an Apple colorwriter (doubt they have permission to distribute it). It also will fire up iexplore to go to its own homepage after each file you print.

The free one will pop up a web browser to show you an online ad each time you "print" with it, or you can register for $9.95US.

The fact that it's a virtual printer makes it simple to use for anyone who can print...

PDF isn't a very good format either because Adobe controls the spec. It isn't open.

Yes, this is why it isn't documented anywhere. You certainly can't create your own free PDF creation utility or anything.

Plz look around b4 u make assumptions.

- A.P.

PDF995 is a free PDF Clone (Adware, pops up ad after program use). Getting rid of the ads is _very_ cheap compared to Adobe products.

PDF995

check out http://www.pdf995.com.

This is a free pdf file producer.

read the docs, requires the Apple Laser II NT printer driver.