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Subject:	Re: Shareware tools
From:	"Henry, Paul" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:	Henry, Paul
Date:	Thu, 6 Apr 2006 14:04:25 -0400
Content-Type:	text/plain
Parts/Attachments:	text/plain (37 lines)

PDF files are covered by ISO standard 19005-1. Any tool which complies with the standard will produce accurate exchangeable PDFs. PDFs are actually coded postscript, which would allow you to pull the text out (minus formatting) should the need ever arise. I'd need to look more closely at the standard to see if backwards compatibility has been built-in.

I have used shareware tools in the past (Zeon, and others), but have found the PDFs created by WordPerfect, and now OpenOffice to be transparent to any PDF tool I might use to index or manipulate them. Since switching my home desktops to Linux in the late nineties, I rely on the PDF and postscript generators built right into the operating system (through CUPS -- the Common Unix Printing System).

On a side note, OpenOffice (Sun Microsystems) is quickly becoming a viable Office-replacement. And it stores its documents in either XML format (opendoc, the international standard) or Microsoft proprietary formats. With a little manipulation of the stylesheet, you could probably generate EAD documents. OO is available for all platforms (Win/Mac/Linux) and is a free download.

Cheers,
pjh

----
Paul J. Henry, C.A.
Archivist (Community Records)
City of Ottawa Archives
c/o City of Ottawa, mail-code 19-49
110 Laurier Ave. W. Ottawa ON  K1P 1J1
tel. (613) 580-2424 x13181
fax. (613) 580-2614
http://www.ottawa.ca/heritage


-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for discussion for the Archives Assoc. of Ontario [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Hepplewhite, Anne
Sent: Thursday 6 April 2006 1:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Shareware tools


Hello everyone,

I've got a technical question for those of you out there who are electronic records experts:

Do shareware solutions, such as Primo PDF and Cute PDF, create PDFs that are as sustainable in the long term as those created by Adobe Acrobat?

Will future versions of the Acrobat Reader always be able to open documents created with these tools or are there caveats and limitations to using shareware tools?

Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated.

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