Longhorn to Bring New Printing Path

The next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, will include a new set of printing APIs, formats, and drivers designed to remove the limitations imposed by Windows’ current printing architecture. The changes promise better printing performance as well as output quality. Although the new system will maintain backward compatibility with existing applications and devices, to obtain the best results, users will need applications written to use new APIs and new printers capable of understanding the new formats.

Benefits of a New Print Path

Getting graphics and text from a Windows application to the printed page requires several components: a set of APIs used by the application to generate the output, a spooling system to hold that output until the printer is ready (thereby enabling the system to print in the background), and a printer driver that translates the generic format used by the spooler to the specific set of graphics commands used by the printer. (These commands are often referred to as a page description language, or PDL.) Collectively, these components are referred to as a print path.