This illustration shows the various print paths proposed for Longhorn. At the top are two types of applications: those written to the current generation of APIs (Win32) and those written to take advantage of the new .NET APIs that will be included in Longhorn (WinFX). At the bottom are two classes of printers and drivers: those built on the existing Graphical Device Interface (GDI) infrastructure and those built on the new Metro architecture.

The first path (1) is the current path. Output from a Win32 application is captured in an Enhanced Metafile (EMF) spool file that is then fed to a GDI printer driver.

Longhorn will also support two automatic conversions. One of these (2) will automatically convert the output of existing Win32 applications to the new Metro-based format, while the other (3) will convert the output of a WinFX application to EMF.

Finally, for new applications printing to new devices, an all-Metro print path (4) is available in which the print data is stored in a Metro format all the way from the application through to the device.

Back to associated article: Longhorn to Bring New Printing Path