The next version of Windows will include a new document format, code-named "Metro," to print and share documents, Microsoft  said Monday. Metro appears to rival Adobe's PostScript and PDF technologies.

Metro was demonstrated during Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates' keynote at the start of the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) on Monday in Seattle.

The format, based on XML, will be licensed royalty free and users will be able to open Metro files without a special client. In the demonstration, a Metro file was opened and printed from Internet Explorer, Microsoft's Web browser.

Printers and printer drivers can include support for Metro and deliver better and faster printing results than with today's printing technology, Microsoft said. On stage, a Xerox printer with Metro built in was used to print a sample slide.

The Metro technology is likely to go head-to-head with Adobe's PostScript technology. "It is a potential Adobe killer," said Richard Doherty, research director with The Envisioneering Group in Seaford, N.Y. "But this is just the first warning shot. Adobe could put something that is even more compelling [on top of] Longhorn."

Aside from the first showing of Metro, Gates on Monday ushered in what he called the third decade of Windows computing with the release of 64-bit versions of Windows and talked up the next Windows release, code-named Longhorn, due late next year.

Gates announced general availability of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and three 64-bit server operating systems: Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter x64 Edition.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.