PDF Reference with Cdrom, 2nd edition
Authors: CORPORATE Adobe Systems Inc
Venue:  (2000)

From the Book: The origins of the Portable Document Format and the Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) product family date to early 1990. At that time, the PostScript(R) page description language was rapidly becoming the worldwide standard for the production of the printed page. PDF builds on the PostScript page description language by layering a document structure and interactive navigation features on PostScript's underlying imaging model, providing a convenient, efficient mechanism enabling documents to be reliably viewed and printed anywhere. The PDF specification was first published at the same time the first Acrobat products were introduced in 1993. Since then, updated versions of the specification have been and continue to be available from Adobe via the World Wide Web. This book is the first version of the specification that is completely self-contained, including the precise documentation of the underlying imaging model from PostScript along with the PDF-specific features that are combined in version 1.3 of the PDF standard. Over the past seven years, aided by the explosive growth of the Internet, PDF has become the de facto standard for the electronic exchange of documents. Well over 100 million copies of the Acrobat Reader application have been distributed around the world, facilitating efficient electronic access to and sharing of information. In addition, PDF is now the industry standard for the intermediate representation of printed material in electronic prepress systems for conventional printing applications. As major corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions streamline their operations by replacing paper-based workflow with electronicexchange of information, the impact and opportunity for the application of PDF will continue to grow at a rapid pace. Adobe offers a collection of PDF-based applications, the Adobe Acrobat products, that provide a broad range of capabilities for its customers. Adobe Acrobat provides the basic tools to create and enhance documents prepared by essentially any software product on the popular operating system platforms. The Acrobat Reader, available free of charge for downloading from myriad Web sites (including Adobe.com), is frequently bundled with consumer products to provide paperless documentation that customers can view on-line or print to paper. Acrobat Capture converts paper documents into PDF format, using state-of-the-art character recognition combined with a highly compressed representation of graphics, enabling the conversion of legacy information into electronic form. A significant number of third-party developers and systems integrators offer customized enhancements and extensions to the core family of products. The emergence of PDF as a de facto standard for electronic information exchange is the result of concerted effort by many individuals in both the private and public sectors. Without the dedication of Adobe employees, our industry partners, and our customers, the widespread acceptance of PDF could not have been achieved. We thank all of you for your continuing support and creative contributions to the success of PDF. Chuck Geschke and John Warnock March 2000