xmlhack: Conformant XSL-FO processing for $80

RenderX have made significant changes to their licensing/pricing structure for XEP, their highly conformant XSL-FO engine (for rendering PDF and Postscript files from XSL-FO source files). An individual license for a nearly full-featured "Stamped Edition" of the current version (XEP 3.02) is priced at US$80, while an individual license for the fully-featured standard "Client Edition" is US$300. Both versions can be purchased online.

Editions

The "Stamped Edition" (which their site says is "intended for tutoring/prototyping, but not for business use") applies a small "stamp" to the footer of each page it generates (the stamp contains a hyperlink to the RenderX website). The license permits distribution of documents generated with the Stamped Edition, with the restriction that users a not permitted to manually remove the stamp from the generated PDF files.

The "Client Edition", which does not apply a stamp to generated pages, contains "everything that is needed to run XEP as a standalone formatter, but excludes Java API". The site does not mention any restrictions on distribution of documents generated with the Client Edition.

Note that those prices are strictly for individual-use end-user licenses; the price for a site license for the "Server Edition" of XEP remains the same (currently, US$5000 per server CPU, with no limit on the number of users). An individual license for the "Developer Edition" (currently priced at US$1000) is also available (it includes API documentation and limited support hours and enables developers to create applications that integrate with XEP).

Who cares?

The significance of the new pricing is that it could well help to put the promise of mature XSL-FO processing in the hands of a lot more people -- that is, make it possible for more people to author their document content in XML with a real expectation of having a practical means to generate high-quality PDF/print output from that content.

The licensing/pricing structure for the commercial applications that are alternatives to XEP does not make those applications practical for individual users to use. There are also free-software/open-source alternatives (FOP and Passivetex), but those have not been able to meet many user's expectations (they are not yet mature, conformant implementations of the XSL-FO specification, and are currently impractical for use in doing production-quality publishing).

XEP appears to be highly conformant with the XSL-FO specification -- meaning that, in practice, most users will find that the PDF and Postscript files it generates fully meet their expectations about how their content should be rendered.

An XSL Formatting Objects in XEP 3.0 document at the RenderX site provides details about XEP's level of conformance with the specification.

A good move IMO. Commercial FO engines have been too expensive for individuals to explore, and today the open implementations are too far behind. This will provide that bridge needed to enable a full evaluation without the high level of financial commitment.

Much needed to further the uptake of xsl-fo, a great Spec from W3C.