Microsoft is going to be feeling the wrath of Adobe because of the “Save As PDF” feature found in Office 2007 Beta (screenshot to the right). Adobe said that Microsoft can either remove the feature completely or they can charge people extra for the added feature. Aren’t we already going to be paying enough to get that feature? Isn’t the cost of Office 2007 going to be $600+?
What makes this even better is that OpenOffice has had a “Save As PDF” feature since 2003! I am sure that is part of the reason Microsoft really wanted to get this functionality integrated into Office. Not only that but Microsoft said that PDF functionality in Office is the second most requested feature.
So what’s going to come next? Microsoft plans to remove the functionality from Office and make it available as a free download to customers. Here we go again…Microsoft releases new products and other companies complain.
News Source: CNet
Ah, but the thing is, OpenOffice don’t make money (not directly) from the program, so they aren’t making money from the PDF feature. With M$ doing it, it’s seen as yet another feature to get people to buy their program – meaning that they’re making money from Adobe’s software. Adobe basically own the .pdf file type because they own the reader – so when people could effectively be making money, I guess they have to act.
True, I wonder how long Microsoft will be able to get away with offering it as a free addon for Office. I would think that Microsoft could just say that they are charging for it in the price they have set.
-Ryan