PDF is an "ad hoc" standard right now. It is on the path to being an official standard (ISO 32000) but it's not there yet. Honestly, saying it's not a standard because it doesn't have an ISO code attached to it is nit-picking to an extreme.

Adobe has always released the specifications of PDF and anybody is free to implement it. Yes, Adobe does charge for their Acrobat Professional suite, but it's hardly required. There are scads of PDF-capable apps out there. Heck, OS X works with PDF as a native subsystem. In no cases do you have to pay any sort of royalty or sign any agreement with Adobe to implement it.

To sum:
1. Specification widely available... Check
2. Anybody can implement the spec royalty and patent free (now that the LZW patent has expired)... Check
3. Documents in PDF format are pervasively and inescapably common... Check
4. A multitude of 3rd party reader and writers for PDF... Check

If that's not a standard, then we have very different ideas on what a standard is. :-)

eculbert wrote:
No more than windows is a 'standard' I believe. It IS
wide spread, but with the exception of the windoze
reader, adobe charges, but the ability to implement
apparently is NOT infringement or all the major
distro's would be being sued by Adobe. So IF that is
what makes it a standard, then so be it.

My quarter cent worth.

Ed

--- Chris Gehlker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

On May 24, 2008, at 2:36 PM, der.hans wrote:

Is PDF a standard? I thought PDF was owned and run
by Adobe, but
they were
allowing 3rd party implementation.
Wikipedia says it's a standard:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format>


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