We were discussing PDF and not PDF/A.
PDF was an open standard before. The problem with the PDF format is that
it is just too unstable. 
Adobe is trying to add more bells and whistles to it all the time, which
requires them to modify the format accordingly.
A Format that is as volatile as the PDF Format should not be used for
long-term records storage.

Furthermore you can achieve word context searching with TIFF files also.
All you need to do is to have a OCR TXT rendition of your TIFF file in
your EDRMS.

PDF/A is a pretty new standard which I don't have a lot experience with,
but believe that PDF/A is not as readily available as TIFF 6.0. Imaging
software's can scan records into a TIFF 6.0 format out of the Box and
all new computers come with a viewer that can view TIFF 6.0.

TIFF 6.0 is a format that has proven itself over time, meanwhile PDF/A
has the promise of becoming that format in the future.

For *now* the TIFF 6.0 format seems to be the cheaper more reliable
format.

Simon De Witt

-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Daniel W. Noonan, MLS, CDIA+
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 11:26 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] another comment regarding Document Management Systems

In the past I would have agreed, however, with PDF/A we now have an 
open vetted standard.  Further as of January 29th, Adobe made the 
reference to PDF 1.4 freely available (current version with Adobe 8 
is reference 1.7).  But version support in the proprietary sense does 
not matter if one is creating a PDF/A.  The added benefit can be 
textual searching.

A few resources:
    * http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000125.shtml
    * http://www.aiim.org/standards.asp?id=25013
    * http://www.adobe.com/enterprise/pdfs/pdfarchiving.pdf
    * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF/A
    * http://www.pdfa.org/doku.php?id=start:en
    * 
http://www.pdf-tools.com/public/downloads/whitepapers/whitepaper-pdfa.pd
f
Thanks -- Dan

At 3/9/2007 10:09 AM Friday, Simon DeWitt wrote:
>I would recommend to use TIFF 6.0 instead of PDF. The PDF format
>standard is to volatile.
>We experienced a corruption issues with images that where scanned into
>PDF 3.0/4.0 and when we want to open them in Adobe Reader 6.0.
>Adobe comes out every couple years with a new standard for PDF's.
>Currently they are marketing for  8.0.
>Do you believe that they will continue supporting your 3.0/4.0/5.0/6.0
>PDF's? 10-20 Years from now?
>
>Simon De Witt

Daniel W. Noonan, MLS, CDIA+
Electronic Records Manager/Archivist
University Archives
The Ohio State University
600 Ackerman Road, Room 5822
Columbus, OH 43202
614.247.2425
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