For years Adobe has set the standard for digital paper documents with it’s PDF (portable document format) standard.  Adobe Reader is a standard install for Windows administrators and in some cases is required to make other software work correctly.  This is fine if you only want to view these documents, but if you want to create them, the Acrobat software needed to do so starts at $299.  This is pretty pricey for the average home user.  Luckily Microsoft flew under the radar and came up with an alternative called XPS (XML Paper Specification). 

XPS is available for free or users of Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003, though you may already have its viewer on your system, as a part of the .NET Framework.  It is available (the reader and writer) for download from Microsoft . 

The good thing about this download is, that you will be able to print to XPS documents the same way professionals print to PDF documents, and share them with other users who may or may not have the software that created the document.  For example, you create a complex spreadsheet in Excel 2007 that you want to share with your cousin who only has Microsoft Word.  You can print the spreadsheet to the XPS writer and create an XPS file, which you can then share with your cousin, via the XPS viewer. 

The bad thing.  Because XPS isn’t a popular format, not as many people have its viewer installed.  Acrobat has been a standard for years, and is often bundled with other software, or even on driver disks as a way to view digital manuals for products.  This means it is far more likely that if you share a PDF document with someone, they already have the necessary software set up to view it.  On the other hand, if you want to create PDF documents you either have to find a free alternative(either in a shady way or via the open source community), buy Acrobat, or buy other software that can output PDF files.  Morally and fiscally, XPS is a better alternative because it’s available free and legal.