The new print path in Longhorn, called the NextGen print path, addresses many limitations of the current print path, which is based on the Windows GDI. The NextGen print path will also coexist with the GDI print path. This coexistence ensures applications and devices a smooth migration over time by providing critical backward compatibility.
Overview of Next Generation Printing in Longhorn
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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so actually and in essence microsoft is porting a macosx/nextstep/os2/etcetc. hybrid operating system to intel platform.
interesting, interesting. and what is the really new thing they come with?
Microsoft is just getting ridiculous with their claims of “Next generation” features. It may be next generation to them, but most of the Longhorn features (sans the super restrictive ones) are from operating systems which already exist! Not only that, they still have not addressed how they plan on making this OS more resistant to the major problems people have today (spyware, security holes, accidental damage). Both OSX and Linux just don’t have these problems due to a solid security schema. So in regards to this print system, I say who the fuck cares anyway?
If the answer was “yes”? Would you then stop trolling? Seriouly its good that a new print path is coming, because the old one was sometimes ridicoulus nasty.
I actually don’t understand why people jump up if MS is implementing something in Windows that exists elsewere and claim its new. Everybody makes such things, and I sure each single reader on this newspage does the same. The behaviour of MS is just a reflection of the behaviours of our civilization.
Linux and MacOSX don’t have these problems not due to a more secure schema, but because they aren’t popular enough to have become a major target.
“I actually don’t understand why people jump up if MS is implementing something in Windows that exists elsewere and claim its new. Everybody makes such things, and I sure each single reader on this newspage does the same. The behaviour of MS is just a reflection of the behaviours of our civilization.”
Because they will say they invented it and then possibly accuse others that have the same functionality of copying *them*. Just like they will pretend they invented tabbed browsing and virtual desktops in Longhorn (if these are in the release).
They are not exactly known to give proper credit. I you’re really interested, try and read http://www.euronet.nl/users/frankvw/rants/microsoft/IhateMS.html
Sorry Eugenia, but even though posting Micro$haft PR material may bring in advertising revenue for OSNews.com, I am simply not interested.
In the long term this will lead to a loss of readers and you will ruin your website and your reputation.
Sorry, but I am interestet in Microsoft news. I’m not interested in Apple news, but this is a technoligy site of general purpose. So Micrsoft has the same right to be here like Linux, Apple, and everyone else.
This is my opinion but I think it is quite fair.
Security
By Mong (IP: 194.202.153.—) – Posted on 2004-08-13 07:35:04
Linux and MacOSX don’t have these problems not due to a more secure schema, but because they aren’t popular enough to have become a major target.
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explain to me why IIS which is far less used than apache has more security problems then. get a clue.
Just what is that? Are they trying to say we couldn’t print “gradients, soft shadows and transparencies” in 1999?
Also “A virtuous cycle now exists…”
Was this written by an MBA or what?
Security is a complicated issue. There is no easy answer. Design issues and popularity are both importent factors, so please stop mentioning only one of them.
> but this is a technoligy site of general purpose.
I thought this is OSNews – news related to operatin systems.
But I agree: This article has to be here, because it’s related to OSNews.
> I thought this is OSNews – news related to operating systems.
Yes, certainly, sorry for the confusion.
The more Microsoft tries to improve Windows, the more others will complain about these improvements. Yet, at the same time, when Linux DEs take inspiration from features from other operating systems, its all good. Linux DE’s have taken ideas from Windows, Mac, NextStep, and many other existing GUIs prior to their creation – why do these same people not complain about them?
Zealotry, that’s why. Apparently, some feel that you need to reinvent the wheel to take full credit for the design.
“Linux and MacOSX don’t have these problems not due to a more secure schema, but because they aren’t popular enough to have become a major target.”
Thats no excuse, MS have a thousandfold better resources to deal with security holes.
The security problems that exist for the most part in Windows are due to conscious design decisions. If Microsoft would build applications with security in mind, we wouldn’t have half the problems we currently do. HINT: STOP MAKING YOUR SOFTWARE SO DAMN POWERFULL!!! It’s a bit ridiculous that I can program a cross-platform computer virus using Microsoft Office as my target.
Stop calling every little crappy snippet of code you write NEXT GENERATION if it’s already been done before! Where’s my NEXT GENERATION Solitaire and Minesweeper?
Have you not heard of a marketing division?
It is true that Microsoft has security issues because it is a target. True, Linux has more of an architecture with security in mind, but it would be in a similar position if it were the main OS of consumers. The reason is not that Microsoft codes insecure software (though it does have security issues a lot of times). Instead, the reason for most security issues is that the user base of Microsoft tends to be a lot less literate with computers. If the famed “grandma” were using Linux and received a Linux virus attachment that said it was a butt-shot of MacGyver than a root password prompt would not stop her from executing it. Without a radical shift in philosophy (ie, all managed code), Microsoft and Linux face the same core security problem: users.
As for Apache vs IIS, this is another great example of users. I would suspect that the MIS majors w/ their Microsoft certification are less qualified to setup a server than hardcore *nix fanatics. Furthermore, Microsoft provides enough GUI tools to simply the process into oblivion, preventing the research that a sysadmin might take if given a config file full of variables to set.
By the way, the NEXT GENERATION Solitaire is being worked on:
http://weblogs.asp.net/justin_rogers/archive/2004/07/23/193856.aspx
🙂
“so actually and in essence microsoft is porting a macosx/nextstep/os2/etcetc. hybrid operating system to intel platform. ”
But that’s what most people want: all the features without having to switch platforms or even operating systems. I certainly don’t want to buy a mac when I already have a nice working PC and apps
Hm, just had a quick view over that Microsoft doc.
Do I really see a XML based print format there?
Must be a secret consipiracy of disk and bandwidth vendors.
On the other hand, imagine something like SOAP implemented in Postscript.
You Security model for Linux is flawed.
Grandma recieves an email that says it’s a picture of her grandkids.
Windows
Grandma clicks on a picture, It loads some unspeakable picture, and her hard drive starts doing funny things. Her dial-up phone connection slows down to 14.4, computer reboots etc. etc.
Linux
Grandma clicks on a picture, it doesn’t load. It has a .jpg extension, but the Kslideshow(assume KDE, Gnome is similiar)won’t load the picture. Grandma calls(or emails back)and says the picture doesn’t work. can they send it again??
The Difference Linux filesystem need to have to excutable flag turned on. If Grandma on Linux saved the file, changed the permission to allow it to excute, The clicked on it, then the virus could only install in her own dir. and harm just her account.
@ MSFT please drop the Next-generation stuff, for features that already exsist elsewhere. When you actually create a new feature, then you can name it that way.
GNU/Linux DEs don’t claim they invented those features, like Microsoft does.
You have a good point. I would definitely say Linux has the security/usability ratio slanted more towards security, whereas Microsoft has it slanted more towards usability. The difficulty comes when trying to find the right ratio. This is made easier with managed code (because it can be trusted to a greater degree). However, there are cases where executable/installable (what if it were sent as an RPM?) files need to be sent via email and as Linux becomes more widespread it will start to automate things for easier usability. Sure, it will warn the user in big red letter that they should never execute files they don’t trust, but once it is down to simply typing a password and accepting a warning message the security problem goes back to the user.
I believe that is the core of the argument about Windows popularity being related to its greater user base. If things weren’t automated so much users would claim that Windows is difficult to use. However, the catch is that by being simpler to use Microsoft has given users more power to hang themselves. As Linux strives for greater usability it will have to consider making the same sacrifices.
Windows
Grandma clicks on a picture, It loads some unspeakable picture, and her hard drive starts doing funny things. Her dial-up phone connection slows down to 14.4, computer reboots etc. etc.
Stop making shit up. Clicking on the file (with .jpg extension instead of .exe) will open the associated program and no picture will show. Just as in your Linux example.
Please scan the websites of Operating System developers and come up with some real news, as you used to do in the past.
You mean open source news? Please… this is a technology site. There is nothing inherently evil about posting to a Microsoft website. Posts linking to official KDE, Gnome, Mono, Trolltech, and others are made routinely. I’ve seen pro-Linux, pro-Windows, pro-Mac, anti-Linux, anti-Windows, and anti-Mac articles all on OSNews. If you’re looking for a bias technology site, visit slashdot.org or channel9.msdn.com. Don’t get mad when OSNews posts about upcoming technologies (and yes, upcoming implementations of exisiting technologies) not related to your operating system of choice.
If all the OSS zealots, who swarm on a MS related news item like locusts, would expend half as much energy working on code for an actual OSS project, GNU/Linux might be worth using.
But then through out history, deconstructionist malcontents have contributed very little to the advancemnet of technology.
So you would consider it ethical for a newspaper to be paid cash to print an article that would hype penicillin as a “Next Generation Antibiotic”, without even specifying that this was paid advertising?
There is a code of ethics for journalists and it is quite clear on these matters. Marketing material is not bound by this code, but news are.
Another way of putting it is that Eugenia can create a Press Release section for OSNews, but I doubt many people will bother to check it…
Mac OS X uses Postscript for screen and printer so they always look the same. They also have colorsync technology to make sure the colors on the screen match the colors on the printer.
I’m still waiting for the features I have on my work computer…
1) The ability to view a document in the print queue.
2) The ability to move a document from one print queue to another.
3) The ability to copy a document from a print queue into .PDF file.
4) The ability to e-mail a document in a print queue as a .PDF to someone.
5) The ability to change the number of copies to be printed.
6) The ability to tell the system to save a copy of the document in the queue after printing. (in case I want to print it again later or to send it to a different printer to print at someone elses desk).
7) The ability to print a range of pages instead of the whole document.
Most of the stuff above (execpt .PDF & e-mail) have been standard OS features since about 1986. The .PDF and e-mail are 3rd party add-ons; this is posiable because the system as standard APIs to allow programs to read the data out of the print queue and all data in the print queue is in a standard format.
Note that documents aren’t convert to printer format except by the print driver at print time (isn’t this one of MSFT’s new features). Also, the system only has one print driver; they created a Printer Description file that tells the driver how to convert from the queue format into the printer format.
As for Apache vs IIS, this is another great example of users. I would suspect that the MIS majors w/ their Microsoft certification are less qualified to setup a server than hardcore *nix fanatics.
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ok. so IIS isnt exploited because it had insecure design. it was exploited because everyone using apache was unix fanatics and IIS was so easy that everyone misconfigured it. somehow that doesnt seem to be the right reason to me. next time alteast people wont use the popularity argument. why did MS enable automatic execution of scripts in Outlook. why did have a bad implementation of security zones in IE. its not because they were popular. they did BAD design mistakes. they are better it at now but the millions of system with exploitable versions of outlook and IE simply wont disappear
“f all the OSS zealots, who swarm on a MS related news item like locusts, would expend half as much energy working on code for an actual OSS project, GNU/Linux might be worth using. ”
how about a few things to be learned
1) Not everyone who complains about MS is a OSS zealot
2) OSS is not just Linux
3) Linux is already worth using for millions. its the fastest growing operating system.
4) Not everyone has the skills to work on a OSS project
5) dont ask everyone who complains to use something else.
since there is no usefull discussion anymore due to the extreme amount of background noise from trolls of the different platforms, maybe it would be a good idea to save the bandwith and just take commenting off altogether.
“how about a few things to be learned”
1) Not everyone who complains about MS is a OSS zealot
I never assumed that everyone who complains about MS is a OSS zealot. I am merely refering to the majority of people who post on OSnews about a MS article. This represents a miniscule fraction of people who have complaints about MS.
In fact I shouldn’t even refer to these people as OSS Zealots. They are so rabid anti-MS, that if an abacus was the only alternative to MS they would expand on theories about how an abacus is more secure and useful than a electronic computing device.
3) Linux is already worth using for millions. its the fastest growing operating system.
As far as Linux being the fastest growing operating system that may be if you are counting percentages instead of actual numbers. For example Linux double’s from 1% to 2% that is a 100% gain. MS adds 75,000,000 windows users planet wide. That may have been only a 12% gain for MS. How do these numbers correlate each other?
4) Not everyone has the skills to work on a OSS project
Instead of bashing MS by thinking up flashy rethoric and sloganeering, maybe some people should aquire the skills to be constructive and add value to thier favorite OSS project. If they don’t even have the capicity to aquire these skills thier rehtoric is even more empty.
5) dont ask everyone who complains to use something else.
I never said use somthing else, they do. Most of these posts are attacking MS for advertising or business practices not product suitablity. The world dreams with idealists but builds with pragmitists.
I think the REAL Next Generation Feature Microsoft should put into the next version of Windows is the ability to run FASTER on older hardware.
Each successive version of MacOS X, Linux, and BSD’s seem to run faster and better on the same hardware.
I have a Celeron 2.4, and Windows XP runs like a dog on it (512mb of RAM). I found a Compaq Media GX 180 Mhz Presario in a yard sale, and reloaded it with Windows 98.
It FLIES compared to the Celeron and Windows XP.
I think that optional features that take advantage of newer hardware is fine. Like Apple’s Quartz Technology.
But, I think the OS itself ought to be mean and lean.
Another thing I think would be a GREAT boon to PC users, is if someone invented a PCI Co-Processor Card that one could put another processor on and turn existing machines into Dual Processor Machines.
The makers of the FusionPPC Emulator for the Amiga, and FusionPC for the PC, were working on a PCI PPC Co-Processor card.
That would have been useful to run Photoshop filters and the like.
Under Linux, who knows what someone would have written for it…
Linux DE’s have taken ideas from Windows, Mac, NextStep, and many other existing GUIs prior to their creation – why do these same people not complain about them?
Because the Linux folks don’t claim to have invented these things first. Are the Cairo folks claiming to have invented a “new, next-generation, innovative 2D graphics API” when the basic concepts of both Cairo and Longhorn were well-established with DisplayPS on NeXT machines??? In the case of Longhorn, it’s the non-stop hype and complete lack of acknowledgement for the people who actually invented these technologies that’s causing the ill-will towards Microsoft.
Linux and MacOSX don’t have these problems not due to a more secure schema, but because they aren’t popular enough to have become a major target.
Please tell me oh “security guru”, how is a document being converted to postscript, then sent off to CUPS for conversion to the native printer format considered a “insecure schema”?
As far as Linux being the fastest growing operating system that may be if you are counting percentages instead of actual numbe
—
assuming you really didnt know Linux is the fastest going by numbers and not just percentage according to the report from IDC. look again. oops eh?
“Because the Linux folks don’t claim to have invented these things first. Are the Cairo folks claiming to have invented a “new, next-generation, innovative 2D graphics API” when the basic concepts of both Cairo and Longhorn were well-established with DisplayPS on NeXT machines??? In the case of Longhorn, it’s the non-stop hype and complete lack of acknowledgement for the people who actually invented these technologies that’s causing the ill-will towards Microsoft.”
Microsoft has never said they invented this technology, they have stated that teh technoogy is innovative, and it is. They way they approach the problem is different to the way NeXT, and then Apple, approached the problem. Simply put, the problem is the same, the solution is different, hence the innovation.
Instead, the reason for most security issues is that the user base of Microsoft tends to be a lot less literate with computers.
That is said about Mac users all the time. Still they are not virus plagued…
(oh, and please don’t start the discussion about market share again…)
I would definitely say Linux has the security/usability ratio slanted more towards security, whereas Microsoft has it slanted more towards usability. The difficulty comes when trying to find the right ratio.
There is no such thing as a usability/security ratio. It is not necessary to sacrific usablity for security or vice versa (again, see MacOS).
One would expect that a company like MS should be able to do way better both in terms of usability and security, but alas…
.. how can they sell their NEXT GENERATION OS or Office, if they start fixing bugs and reducing bloat instead of pumping new (mostly useless) features in it. But as long as people don’t stop buying …
This is really sad
Did I read it correctly that rendering would be done on the client? For me (and others, I am sure) this is gonna be a major issue. I for one rely on stand-alone RIPs. I need to be able to just create normal PostScript streams, not MS-rendered rasters.
Maybe I am just looking for something to complain about. *shrugs*
I’m still waiting for the features I have on my work computer…
1) The ability to view a document in the print queue.
2) The ability to move a document from one print queue to another.
3) The ability to copy a document from a print queue into .PDF file.
4) The ability to e-mail a document in a print queue as a .PDF to someone.
5) The ability to change the number of copies to be printed.
6) The ability to tell the system to save a copy of the document in the queue after printing. (in case I want to print it again later or to send it to a different printer to print at someone elses desk).
7) The ability to print a range of pages instead of the whole document.
A print queue is just that, a place that holds documents waiting to be printed. Your application is responible for things like what to do with the document (save,print,email), what format it should be saved in, how many copies you want, what pages to print. Wanting your “print queue” to do these things is stupid and shows a lack of understanding about system design.
“It is true that Microsoft has security issues because it is a target. True, Linux has more of an architecture with security in mind, but it would be in a similar position if it were the main OS of consumers.”
Linux never had ActiveX, for example. It’s fun how in the XP SP2, when a site tries to use ActiveX, Internet Explorer tells you “This site is trying to use insecure technologies”.
Of course, some years ago, they had to create activeX because they didn’t want java to take the market. Basically they f*cked up parts of the design of the OS (that includes your beloved W2k3, Eugenia
because of marketing reasons. Linux and mac os x never needed to make that, though.
It is now official. Netcraft confirms: Eros is dying
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered Eros community when IDC confirmed that Eros market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 0.0001 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that Eros has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we’ve known all along. Eros is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Research Projects That Promise Much But Go Nowhere networking test.
You don’t need to be a Kreskin to predict Eros’s future. The hand writing is on the wall: Eros faces a bleak future. In fact there won’t be any future at all for Eros because Eros is dying. Things are looking very bad for Eros. As many of us are already aware, Eros continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
Let’s keep to the facts and look at the numbers.
Eros leader Jonathan Shapiro states that there are 7 users of Eros. How many users of KeyKos are there? Let’s see. KeyKos is at about 8 percent of the Eros market. Therefore there are 7 + 1 = 8 users of either Eros or KeyKos. This is consistent with the number of Eros Usenet posts.
Due to troubles at University of Pennsylvania, abysmal development speed and so on, Eros went through a “focus shift” by doing a useless rewrite in C and was taken over by Johns Hopkins University, who attempted to continue development on this troubled OS. Then the project was sidetracked while precious development resources went towards creating Yet Another Useless Version Control System. Now it is dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major surveys show that Eros has steadily declined in market share. Eros is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Eros is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. Eros continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Eros is dead.
Fact: Eros is dying
forgive my ignorance but… what exactly is “eros” (apart from the little guy with the bow)
“Also “A virtuous cycle now exists…”
Was this written by an MBA or what?”
Written by somebody who hasn’t noticed that if you go around a circle you get back to where you started, so it doesn’t represent progress. A virtuous helix might get you somewhere, arriving good but giddy.
forgive my ignorance but… what exactly is “eros” (apart from the little guy with the bow)
—
that guy is doing irrelevant trolling here. never mind
Microsoft has never said they invented this technology, they have stated that teh technoogy is innovative
Merriam-Webster defines “innovation” as “a new idea, method, or device.” If it’s been done before, it is not new, and is thus not innovative.
and it is. They way they approach the problem is different to the way NeXT, and then Apple, approached the problem.
How is their approach to the problem any different than previous technologies? Sure, they differ in the details, but the core concepts are the same.
An honest marketing approach for Microsoft would be something along the lines of “Longhorn rocks because it takes the best features of existing designs and combines them.” That’d be honest. However, honesty is a foreign concept to people in the field of marketing, so I don’t have any hopes that the Longhorn hype will change in tone.
That is said about Mac users all the time. Still they are not virus plagued…
(oh, and please don’t start the discussion about market share again…)
You’ve made my counterargument for me. Please (and I’m being honest, not sarcastic) explain to me how Mac OS securely allows people to obtain executable files from sources they trust (either genuinely or through social engineering) while preventing those files from being run if they are virus-ridden? I *honestly* do not see any OS tackling this problem except through managed code, which is the focus of Longhorn. I think Java, Mono, and .NET are the way to go and building a method of deploying applications (applets were a great start) inside such a sandbox is the best known method of solving the biggest security problem: irresponsible and easily manipulated end users.
An honest marketing approach for Microsoft would be something along the lines of “Longhorn rocks because it takes the best features of existing designs and combines them.” That’d be honest. However, honesty is a foreign concept to people in the field of marketing, so I don’t have any hopes that the Longhorn hype will change in tone.
Just append every Microsoft Sales buzz line with “for Microsoft.” and you’ll be able to sleep better. Microsoft simply doesn’t care to acknowledge competition and therefore won’t quote every similar technology related. If they say reflection in C# Express is new and innovative, they don’t mean that reflection is a brand new idea for all the IT world, they simply mean that it is new “for Microsoft.”
“assuming you really didnt know Linux is the fastest going by numbers and not just percentage according to the report from IDC. look again. oops eh?”
Oops, you forgot to provide a link to the IDC report backing up your claim.
Here is something that I googled that might pertain to what you were refering too.
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/5381/1/
If they say reflection in C# Express is new and innovative, they don’t mean that reflection is a brand new idea for all the IT world, they simply mean that it is new “for Microsoft.”
That’s dishonest marketing*. You can’t have a proviso that is that major. It’s like Delta advertising “the lowest fare to Atlanta” with the proviso “lowest out of all Delta flights to Atlanta.” It’s not just a matter of ethics. Microsoft’s marketing is spawning a new generation of Windows evangelists who actually believe that Microsoft is doing things that the computer industry has never seen before.
* Of course, “marketing” implies “dishonest” so that phrase is probably redundant…
I believe this is the first time I’ve seen an OSNews article where essentially every single comment to it could be moderated down.
As for the actual topic of the printing system, I can agree that some aspects of the printing system have needed an overhaul for a very long time. Since Longhorn is (apparantly) all about overhauling Windows, perhaps that’s what we’ll get.
I agree that the contents of the document are particularly vague (has less detail than your standard High-Level Design) and it would have been better for Microsoft to give us some detail. However, it may be that this document was aimed at the managerial level, rather than the IT level.
Oops, you forgot to provide a link to the IDC report backing up your claim.
——
use http://www.google.com to search
“use http://www.google.com to search”
I did but Google can’t find links to imaginary reports. I guess you can’t either.
Printing?? How about some real news!