Dell XPS (Xtreme Performance System) is a line of gaming and performance computers manufactured by Dell.

History

The XPS (Xtreme Performance System) name dates back to 1993 when Dell at that time was more focused on corporate business than consumers. Gateway was number one in the high-end consumer market. In early 1993 there was a staff meeting to address how to pursue this emerging market. At this time Dell turned over less than 500 million dollars a year and Michael Dell was involved in most decisions. At this meeting it was decided to launch a new high-end product line to beat Gateway. Vernon Weiss was assigned as product manager to spearhead and manage the new product. In September 1993 the first two versions of the new XPS line were announced. The first generation of the XPS system was available as either a desktop or a tower. This new product line was so far ahead of the competition that it was featured on the cover of the October 1993 issue of PC Computing. For the next 3 years with Vernon Weiss managing the product line, the XPS systems won over 100 magazine reviews and covers, being the first to adopt the latest PC technology available and bring it to the consumers at an attractive price.

Open XML Paper Specification (also referred to as OpenXPS) is an open specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format. Microsoft developed it as the XML Paper Specification (XPS). In June 2009, Ecma International adopted it as international standard ECMA-388.

It is an XML-based (more precisely XAML-based) specification, based on a new print path (print processing data representation and data flow) and a color-managed vector-based document format that supports device independence and resolution independence. In Windows 8 .xps was replaced with the ECMA standard .oxps format which is not natively supported in older Windows versions.

Format

The XPS document format consists of structured XML markup that defines the layout of a document and the visual appearance of each page, along with rendering rules for distributing, archiving, rendering, processing and printing the documents. Notably, the markup language for XPS is a subset of XAML, allowing it to incorporate vector-graphic elements in documents, using XAML to mark up the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) primitives. The elements used are described in terms of paths and other geometrical primitives.

XPS may refer to:

Dell Inc. is an American privately owned multinational computer technology company based in Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Eponymously named after its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide.

Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals, HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3 players, and electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is well known for its innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce, particularly its direct-sales model and its "build-to-order" or "configure to order" approach to manufacturing—delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications. Dell was a pure hardware vendor for much of its existence, but with the acquisition in 2009 of Perot Systems, Dell entered the market for IT services. The company has since made additional acquisitions in storage and networking systems, with the aim of expanding their portfolio from offering computers only to delivering complete solutions for enterprise customers.

Dell Publishing, an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr. with $10,000, two employees and one magazine title, I Confess, and soon began turning out dozens of pulp magazines; everything from penny-a-word detective stories and articles about the movies, to even romance books (or “smoochies” as they were known in the slang term of the day).

During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. Their line of humor magazines included 1000 Jokes, launched in 1938. From 1929 to 1974, they published comics under the Dell Comics line, the bulk of which (1938–62) was done in partnership with Western Publishing. In 1943, Dell entered into paperback book publishing with Dell Paperbacks. They also used the book imprints of Dial Press, Delacorte Books, Delacorte Press, Yearling Books, and Laurel Leaf Library.

Paperbacks

Dell's earliest venture into paperback publishing began because of its close association with Western Publishing. William Lyles wrote, "Dell needed paper, which Western had in 1942, and because Western by this time needed printing work, which Dell could supply in the form of its new paperback line. So Dell Books was born, created by Delacorte of Dell and Lloyd E. Smith of Western."

In physical geography, a dell is a small wooded valley. Like "dale", the word "dell" is derived from the Old English word dæl.

See also