Many of you have undoubtedly already heard about Microsoft’s “Metro” project. It has been called a “PDF Killer” by more than one pundit. Time will tell if it gets to that level of acceptability and market adoption, but I certainly wouldn’t be willing to bet against Microsoft.
In addition to Metro, and in my opinion more interesting, is Microsoft recent beta testing of “Acrylic”. Acrylic is Microsoft’s first entry into the professional graphic design software market. I went and downloaded the beta application yesterday and at first pass-through, it looks very promising. I’ve been a long-time user of Adobe’s products, including Photoshop (which Acrylic directly competes against) as well as InDesign, Illustrator, and others. I moved to Adobe after getting tired of QuarkExpress and limitations I saw within that product. However, it looks like Microsoft is planning to take advantage of Adobe’s limitations now.
If you’re into graphic design at all – or even mildly curious – go get Acrylic and let me know what you think.