Will XPS (XML Paper Specification), codenamed Metro, dislodge Adobe’s PDF as the de facto document standard? That’s the question being asked now that the format is set for inclusion in both Windows Vista and Office 12. When Metro was unveiled nearly a year ago, many industry experts laughed at the presumption.

Now Microsoft and its supporters are outling the advantages of XPS compared to PDF. ITJungle quotes Charles LeCompte, president of Lyra Research: “The release of the XPS standard may very well become one of the major milestones of PC-based imaging history. All documents will be able to print to XPS without an intermediary file converter, such as Acrobat PDF. XPS aims to integrate that functionality in all Windows applications, not just high-end, professional applications, as with PDF.”

As a caveat, LeCompte also said that XPS’ place success is not a certainty, and needs strong support from Microsoft to make it happen. “Historically, Microsoft’s forays into new territories have been slow from the gate. Take, for example, the early clunky versions of Windows and Internet Explorer. Adobe Acrobat’s strong head start in the industry and its near ubiquity coupled with very sophisticated, evolved tools for workflow management and cross-platform portability demand that XPS comes out strong to be considered more than a PDF-light variation.”