Software Imaging have released a new XPS viewer as a free download. The viewer uses Software Imaging’s own PrintMagicXPS technology to render the XPS documents, which differs from other XPS viewers because it is developed in C++ native code, and therefore has no dependency on .Net or managed code.

Features include:

• High quality rasterizer which leverages Software Imaging’s PrintMagicXPS technology
• Full compliance with the XPS 1.0 specification
• Easy to use and view your XPS documents
• Priority given to the rendering of the first page of a multiple page XPS document
• Multi-threaded application for improved performance on multi-core systems
• Developed in C++ native code, therefore no dependency on .Net and managed code
• Two rendering modes: Aliased and Anti-Aliased
• Zoom and rotate views
• Colour management

Supported Operating Systems

• Microsoft Windows Vista
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003
• Microsoft Windows XP SP2

Prerequisites on Download Page

To run XPS Viewer on Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Window Server 2003 the following components will need to be downloaded and installed:

• Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0
• Microsoft Windows Imaging Component (WIC)

btw, Windows 7 Will Include New Win32 API’s For XPS, and the new API’s will be:

• XPS API provides creation, manipulation, reading, writing and other services for XPS documents and print streams
• OPC API provides creation, manipulation, reading, writing and other services for Open Packaging Conventions-based file formats, including XPS, OOXML and an increasing number of industrial strength third party file formats
• XPS Print API provides a new entry point for applications to benefit from the enhanced XPS Print Path, irrespective of whether the final output device supports XPS

reference,
http://digitaldocuments.debenu.com/2008/11/12/windows-7-will-include-new-win32-apis-for-xps/
http://digitaldocuments.debenu.com/2008/10/01/new-xps-viewer-from-software-imaging/
http://softwareimaging.com/products-services/XPSViewer/index.asp

pdfsizeopt is open source project hosting on Google Code, the main feature is PDF file size optimizer.

About

pdfsizeopt is a collection of best practices and scripts for Unix to optimize the size of PDF files, with focus on PDFs created from TeX and LaTeX documents. pdfsizeopt is developed on a Linux system, and it depends on existing tools such as Python 2.4, Ghostscript 8.50, jbig2enc (optional), sam2p, pngtopnm, pngout (optional), and the Multivalent PDF compressor (optional) written in Java.

The author says it is A Linux solution, and I have test it on my DreamHost, it works. I have tried a PDF, the original PDF is 5.6M, and the optimized/converted PDF is 4.4M, great!

Another great thing, I am working on port it to windows, and all tools needed are ready(some download from website, some compiled by myself, for example jbig2), and have successfully modified pdfsizeopt.py to let it work under windows now, though it still has many bugs(I have submit them to the author) and I will release it later.

Installation instructions

Please note that not all the software mentioned in the instructions below is free software (if we consider freedom). Details:

• pdfsizeopt: free
• Python: free
• Ghostscript: free version available
• Java: free version available (OpenJDK)
• sam2p: free
• jbig2: free (http://github.com/agl/jbig2enc/tree/master)
• png22pnm: free
• pngtopnm: free
• Multivalent.jar: not free software, but you don’t have to pay for using it, and you can download it from the official web site without having to pay
• PNGOUT: not free software, but you don’t have to pay for using it, and you can download it from the official web site without having to pay

Necessary:

1. A Unix system is needed, Linux is recommended. The following instructions have been tested on Debian Etch and Ubuntu Hardy.
2. Install Python 2.4, Python 2.5 or Python 2.6 from package. Earlier or later versions won’t work.
3. Install Ghostscript 8.61 or later. (You may try pdfsizeopt with Ghostscript 8.54 as well, but 8.54 has some known font conversion problems, so it will produce an error for some PDF files.) Earlier versions won’t work. Make sure the command gs is on your $PATH.
4. Create a directory named pdfsizeopt.
5. Check out the source code at http://code.google.com/p/pdfsizeopt/source/checkout , or just download http://pdfsizeopt.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/pdfsizeopt.py as pdfsizeopt/pdfsizeopt.py.
6. Install a recent sam2p and copy the binary to pdfsizeopt/sam2p. For Linux, the recommended binary is http://pdfsizeopt.googlecode.com/files/sam2p . Please note that the sam2p in Ubuntu Intrepid and Debian Etch is too old. Either compile it yourself, or use the recommended download above.
7. Install pngtopnm from package, or download the Linux binary from http://pdfsizeopt.googlecode.com/files/png22pnm to pdfsizeopt/png22pnm.

Optional, but strongly recommended:

1. Install Java 1.5 or newer from package. javac is not necessary. Sun’s Java and OpenJDK are OK, gcj and gij won’t work. Make sure that java -version works and prints something at least 1.5.
2. Download Multivalent*.jar from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=44509&package_id=37068 (example: Multivalent20060102.jar), and copy it to pdfsizeopt/Multivalent.jar.
3. Compile jbig2 for yourself, or download the Linux binary from http://pdfsizeopt.googlecode.com/files/jbig2 to pdfsizeopt/jbig2.

Optional, but recommended:

1. Download the PNGOUT binary for your system. Recommended for Linux: the http://static.jonof.id.au/dl/kenutils/pngout-20070430-linux-static.tar.gz archive on http://www.jonof.id.au/kenutils . For other PNGOUT downloads, visit http://advsys.net/ken/utils.htm . Copy the file pngout-*-linux-static to pdfsizeopt/pngout.

Try it:

1. Create a file test.pdf, and run pdfsizeopt.py --use-pngout=true --use-jbig2=true --use-multivalent=true test.pdf. The output file will be test.pso.pdf.
2. If you haven’t installed some of the tools above, try changing =true to =false in the command line.

references,
pdfsizeopt home page
Convert JBIG2 to PDF with free and open source software agl’s jbig2enc
Windows version JBIG2 Encoder-Jbig2.exe

Adobe Acrobat is expensive, but that doesn’t mean you have to live a life without portable documents. What many people don’t realize is that PDF is a Federal Information Processing Standard, which means the specifications behind the format are widely published. Numerous developers take advantage of this fact and create programs that offer effective alternatives to Acrobat. Check out our list of these programs and take advantage of these tools that are full of some of the best PDF features and functions.

Downloadable/Online PDF Creators

These simply and emminently usable programs will allow you to quickly create your own PDFs.

1. CutePDF: Create a PDF file from almost any printable document. CutePDF has an open SDK and doesn’t bog down their software with popups or watermarks.
2. PrimoOnline: The online version of the popular PrimoPDF converter.
3. PDF reDirect: The freeware PDF reDirect offers loads of robust features, including PDF creation, previews, encryption, and more, that go a long way to replacing Adobe.
4. doPDF: Install doPDF as a virtual PDF printer driver, and you can create PDFs using your printer function.
5. CC (Free) PDF Converter: This printer driver can be used to create a PDF file from any printable Windows application.
6. PDFCreator: Use PDFCreator to create PDFs from any printable program, as well as encrypt and autosave files based on predefined terms.
7. Open Office: Open Office has a PDF export feature that allows you to define compression levels as well as handle thumbnails and hyperlinks.
8. Scribus: Use this desktop publishing program to create interactive PDF presentations and forms.
9. HylaFAX: HylaFAX is an open source fax server that can be configured to deliver in PDF.

Online and Desktop PDF Editors

PDF manipulation is easy and free with these tools.

10. PDFescape: This online PDF solution is a reader, editor, form filler, and form designer. All you need to use it is a JavaScript enabled web browser.
11. PDFedit: Use this editor to manipulate PDF documents, with an option to do your own scripting and plugins.
12. Multivalent browser: Although not a pure editor, this browser allows for minimal editing in the form of creating annotations. In addition, it includes several command-line PDF specific tools which allow for things like merging, compression, and extraction.

Viewers

If you need a simple way to open and read PDFs, look no further than these lightweight viewers.

13. Sumatra PDF: This Windows PDF viewer is light and minimalistic. It’s even designed for portable use, so you can run it from a USB drive.
14. FoxIt Reader: The Foxit PDF viewer is an all time favorite (especially of Digg users). And has a strong set of features (with a very competitive price )
15. PalmPDF: Use this PDF viewer for Palm OS devices.
16. Evince: Gnome users can take advantage of Evince, a document viewer that supports both PDF and PostScript documents.
17. Preview: Mac OS X comes with Preview, an application that displays images and PDFs.
18. ePDFView: This lightweight PDF viewer uses the GTK+ and Poppler libraries.
19. Okular: This document viewer for KDE 4 supports PDF, PostScript, and lots more.
20. Xpdf: Xpdf, available for nearly any Unix OS, is a PDF viewer that allows you to read encrypted PDFs, extract images, and more.

Compatability

Make the PDF format compatible with HTML, XML, non-proprietary formats, and more using these tools.

21. PythonPoint: Use this tool to create presentations that can be opened with any PDF viewer.
22. AxPoint: Create PDF slideshows from XML using AxPoint.
23. DocBook XSL Stylesheets: Create and store documents in a presentation-neutral form that can be published in HTML, PDF, and more.
24. Unipage: Unipage turns any page, online or local, into an HTML file that can function as a portable document. Although Unipage is currently only available on Windows, additional OS and browser support is coming soon.
25. EasyPDF SDK: The easyPDF development toolkit helps you create PDF functions with minimum effort and very little code.
26. KWord: KWord is a word processor for KOffice, and it offers a PDF import function.
27. PDFlib: The PDFlib development tool offers a way for developers to PDF-enable software and create PDFs on their own server.
28. Ghostscript: The Ghostscript software can interpret PostScript language and PDFs interchangeably and convert them to faster formats.
29. Mozilla Archive Format: This extension can save pages in MHTML format, which creates a portable document of the page.
30. Pstoedit: This program converts PostScript or PDF files to other output formats such as WOMF/EMF, PDF, DXF, CGM, and HTML.

Command Line Manipulation and Editing

These editors won’t be used on your desktop as you would use Acrobat or any other PDF application. Rather, you can use these offerings to build into your own apps so that you can automate the PDF creation and manipulation process.

31. PJ: Etymon’s PJ, the parent of PJX, is one of the earliest open source attempts to make PDF’s more accessible. PJ is a class library in Java that allows parsing, manipulation, and generation of PDF files.
32. PDFlib: The PDFlib development tool offers a way for developers to PDF-enable software and create PDFs on their own server.
33. mbtPdfAsm: The mbtPdfAsm application is an in line tool for assembling and merging PDF files, extracting information from them, and updating PDF metadata.
34. PDF::API2: PDF::API2 offers a “next generation” tool for creating and manipulating PDF files.
35. PDF Clown: The PDF Clown is an open source library which includes capabilities such as document splitting, merging, and more.
36. iText: iText is an ideal library for developers seeking to automate PDF creation and manipulation.
37. FreeDist: This freeware distiller can convert files into PDF as well as compose multiple files to one PDF in a specific order.
38. Pdftk: This toolkit offers command-line functionality for lots of features, like merging, form filling, and encryption.

PDF Creation Libraries, Scripts and Systems

If you’re a developer and you want to move beyond the capabilities of a desktop PDF creator, these libraries, scripts, and systems will help you incorporate PDF creation into your own applications.

39. CUPS: The Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) is primarily a system for enabling a computer to act as a print server, but which has a robust feature that allows PDF exporting.
40. Lout: This document formatting system, the implementation of which is referred to as Basser Lout, can be outputted in PDF, plain text, and more.
41. Indexed PDF Creator: This tool automatically generates a keyword index for PDF documents which allows readers to quickly locate specific words and phrases in a document.
42. Cairo: Cairo, a vector drawing library, allows creation of PDF documents.
43. LyX: This document processor which is particularly popular amongst the scientific community offers PDF exporting.
44. Fly2PDF: You can create PDF documents directly using this ActiveX library.
45. PDF Creator Pilot: Use this library to create PDF files from popular programming languages like Visual Basic and ASP.
46. XeTex: XeTex is a typesetting program that offers PDF creation.
47. FPDF: Use FPDF to create PDF files with PHP. You don’t need PDFlib to use it.
48. Inkscape: Inkscape is an open source vector drawing program that offers support for PDF exports.
49. PdfTeX: This typesetting program can output PDF files and allows a number of features like links and tables of contents.
50. ReportLab: This library offers a PDF generation solution specifically suited for web publishers, developers, and creative designers who are looking for a high-speed automated PDF generation.
51. Tiny RML2PDF: You can create a PDF document from RML with this tool, giving it the appearance of a printed document.
52. HTML_ToPDF: This PHP class allows users to convert HTML to PDF files quickly and easily.

Other Tools

Get even more function from your PDFs using these tools.

53. Skim: For OS X, Skim is a PDF reader with features that allow you to take notes and highlight on any PDF file.
54. Notepad Generator: This tool makes it easy to create a PDF notepad, and it’s fully customizable.
55. PDFmap: PDFmap offers automated generation of interactive PDF maps.

With these tools, you should be able to go way beyond Adobe. Even better, you can do it for free and have the option to customize your experience using their open source status.

From: http://www.cogniview.com/convert-pdf-to-excel/post/pdf-editing-creation-50-open-sourcefree-alternatives-to-adobe-acrobat/