Printer manufacturers can create XPS compatible printers. XPS can be used as a printer command language. XPS can be used as a document sharing format, similar to PDF. There is less need for software vendors to implement their own printing technology to get around limitations (as was often the case with GDI).

Compared to GDI, XPS is graphically more sophisticated and faster when printing complex objects such as transparencies or blends. In previous Microsoft operating systems, a technology called GDI was used. XPS is a subset of this XAML language, specifically geared towards a fixed page format so that text cannot reflow when it is sent to different devices.

Within Windows, a language called XAML is used to describe how objects such as text need to appear on-screen. The goal of both technologies is offering WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) when viewing and printing documents.

It is probably no coincidence that Apple uses its main competitor, PDF, as the graphics model within OS X. XPS is closely linked to the Windows operating system, as it is a part of its underlying graphics architecture since Microsoft Vista.

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