Vancouver, BC, Canada (March 31, 2003) – Creo Inc. is now shipping Preps 4.2 software, the next major release of its leading imposition solution. A must-have upgrade, Preps 4.2 helps printers stay competitive by supporting the latest versions of QuarkXPress, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Word, and Macromedia FreeHand design software. Included in the Preps 4.2 release are: Improved application compatibility New PostScript filters for Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP printer drivers Improved template speed access Superior PDF imposition with full Acrobat 5 compatibility Support for Mac OS X v10.2 Jaguar (Preps runs in classic mode) and Windows XP Pro Web growth compensation available when printing in-RIP separations (Pro version only) User interface improvements (Mac OS only) AppleScript enhancements (Mac OS only) In addition, Preps continues to enhance JDF (Job Definition Format)capabilities. By supporting JDF, an XML-based file format used to describe the entire print production cycle, Preps software continues to support and enhance Networked Graphic Production, the Creo initiative that links creative, production, and business systems to streamline print production and better serve everyone involved in the print process. “Each new Preps release has significant improvements that really make the software stand-out,” says Brian Cupp, workflow administrator at Acme Printing Company, Inc. of Des Moines, IA. “Preps 4.2 has several new features that have helped to increase productivity in the prepress department, including a new caching feature that dramatically reduces the time to open Preps templates. Here at Acme Printing we have hundreds of templates stored on our server and this one feature alone was reason enough to upgrade.” Preps 4.2 is a free upgrade for all Preps 4.x users and is available from https://ecentral.creo.com/.