2007 – XMF, PDF 1.7 & EBM
• Adobe discontinues development and support of FreeHand, the drawing application that it acquired through its merger with Macromedia.
• Esko and Artwork Systems merge to become EskoArtwork.
• Fuji starts shipping XMF, its new print production workflow which is based on PDF and the Adobe PDF Print Engine.
• PDF 1.7 becomes an official ISO-standard (ISO 32000) in December 2007. The final specs are published in March 2008.
• The New York Public Library install the first Espresso Book Machine. This print-on-demand system combines a printer, such as the Xerox WorkCentre 4112, with a collating, binding and cutting unit. A small color printer is used for covers. The EBM can print a 300-page book in 4 minutes. It costs from $97,000 plus printer.
• Social networks are the craze of the day so it is appropriate to mention that Prepressforums, the largest and best prepress related forum on the web, is bought by PrintPlanet. A lot of regular visitors migrate to the B4print forums.
Chili Pepper (Pantone 19-1557) is the color of the year.
• In its third reincarnation, this site moves from using static Dreamweaver pages to a database driven WordPress system.
• Nicolas Sarkozy becomes the new French president while Gordon Brown replaces Tony Blair as the prime minister of Great Britain.
• The USA increases its number of troops in Iraq, again.
• Abdullah Gul becomes the first Islamist president in Turkey’s recent history.
• The sub-prime mortgage crisis starts. At least 100 US mortgage companies either shut down, are sold or suspend operations.
• More than 12,000 writers join the Guild of America strike, also known as the Writers’ Strike.