Photo printing under Windows Vista

Find out how to print using Microsoft's forthcoming operating system

Most existing printer drivers and installation routines don’t work with current pre-release versions of Windows Vista. However, many older printers include drivers that are in the latest Vista builds we’ve seen. This means you should be able to get your current printer to work, but there’s no guarantee that the rest of your software will be compatible or that the built-in drivers will support all your printer’s functions.

Drivers for the printers reviewed here aren’t yet on the Vista install discs. So if you’re already running the Vista beta be prepared to switch back to XP if you want to use one of these newest models.

Having invested in an advanced photo printer with a built-in LCD control panel and PC-less printing capability, no level of operating system incompatibility will stop you from printing photos. But if you’re upgrading the operating system you would expect to improve, or at least maintain, your printing capabilities. So let’s look a little closer at what Vista promises.

The XML paper specification
Vista’s printing system, XML Paper Specification (XPS), will require new drivers. Old-style XP drivers will not be adequate. Luckily, Canon, Epson and HP are backing the XPS standard so we should expect to see XPS drivers available for most photo printers around the time of Vista’s release.

In many ways, XPS is similar to Adobe’s Pdf format. Included in Vista is a virtual printer, called the ‘Microsoft XPS Document Writer’ whose function is to produce XPS documents printed directly from applications, in much the same way as the Adobe Pdf Writer produces Pdfs.

Where previous versions of Windows have used intermediate files called metafiles to represent output to printers, XPS documents enable users to view and print the files more easily without the need to have a copy of the application that created them.

The XPS Viewer included with Vista displays XPS files on screen just as Adobe reader presents Pdfs. But unlike Pdfs, XPS files don’t contain dynamic or interactive features such as support for forms.

The XPS-based driver model is a replacement for the existing GDI-printing system used by most Windows inkjet printers that don’t use the PCL or Postscript standards. XPS will deliver better support for colour matching and enable printing devices to express their capabilities more precisely via the driver interface.

This will allow better use of the printer hardware by applications. One example is the Windows Color System (WCS) incorporated into Vista, which will be able to make full use of the range of colours modern inkjets can produce.

Other benefits to the user will be much smaller print jobs in the spooler – and therefore faster print times, and better quality output, especially when printing gradients and transparent layers.

Unfortunately, there’s no specific XPS logo programme for printers, but all products sold as ‘Certified for Windows Vista’ will require signed XPS drivers.

At the moment, none of the three vendors in this round-up are making any promises regarding Vista driver support, but given their level of involvement with XPS, the outlook is good.

This article is part of a group test of A4 photo printers
See also
Canon Pixma IP6700D
Epson Stylus Photo R360
HP Photosmart D7360
How we tested the photo inkjet printers
Graphs and table of features can be read via our pdf downloads above