Talk:History of PDF

Prehistory
Would anyone like to comment on or add a few lines on the prehistory of the PDF format? One of the big differences between PDF and Postscript is that PDF started out descriptive and not executable. This made it safer as an exchange format. In that aspect it resembles Display Postscript, which Adobe and NeXT seem to have worked on together. Display Postscript probably owes some debt to NeWS. Is there any linkage between these programs and PDF? XaosBits (talk) 18:24, 27 June 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090304134754/http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/warnock_camelot.pdf to http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/warnock_camelot.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090304134754/http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/warnock_camelot.pdf to http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/warnock_camelot.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110424013530/http://www.aiim.org/Resources/Archive/Magazine/2007-Jul-Aug/33448 to https://www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference_archive.html

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External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 12 external links on History and standardization of Portable Document Format. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added tag to http://acroeng.adobe.com/PDFReference/PDF%20Reference%201.0.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101214132912/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/pdf/PDFReference13.pdf to http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/pdf/PDFReference13.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090824155127/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/pdf/PDFReference.pdf to http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/pdf/PDFReference.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140508030646/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/acrobat/sdk/5186AcroJS.pdf to http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/acrobat/sdk/5186AcroJS.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140508061849/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/acrobat/sdk/AcroJS.pdf to http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/acrobat/sdk/AcroJS.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150706161919/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_2_6.pdf to http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_2_6.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150706161930/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_2_8.pdf to http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_2_8.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150706161940/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_3_0.pdf to http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_3_0.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130811035136/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_3_1.pdf to http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_3_1.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150706165913/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_3_3.pdf to http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_3_3.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101228214326/http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200701/012907OpenPDFAIIM.html to https://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200701/012907OpenPDFAIIM.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130902000323/http://cdn.parleys.com/p/5148922a0364bc17fc56c6e5/iSUM2012_00_LRO_presentation.pdf to http://cdn.parleys.com/p/5148922a0364bc17fc56c6e5/iSUM2012_00_LRO_presentation.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131021075852/http://www.pdfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Matthew-Hardy-PDF-Standard-2012-03-27.pdf to http://www.pdfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Matthew-Hardy-PDF-Standard-2012-03-27.pdf

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Original name
I seem to remember that PDF originally stood for something like “Postscript Definition Format (or File)”. I couldn't find anything about that by searching for “PDF "Postscript Definition"”. Am I misremembering that? ◅ Sebastian 14:30, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

Additionally, wasn’t Adobe’s Acrobat branded and heralded before launch as Adobe Carousel? I seem to remember quite a few articles in magazines around that time. Jkbayley (talk) 08:12, 8 September 2022 (UTC)