What is WIA?

           Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) is a new standard for scanner drivers to be written. The standard that has been custom for so long was the TWAIN standard. But Microsoft introduced WIA drivers in Windows ME. WIA provides developers with a relatively easy way to write support for scanners. So many scanner manufactures, looking to say money on development, are going with WIA scanners as their primary source to drive older scanners. The end result is the user is stuck with a basic interface, with little to no advanced features.

Why WIA?

            As I touched on in the last paragraph one of the reasons is money. It takes less time to develop a WIA driver, and the hope is that they will be able to have a longer life cycle. Because it is a standard provided by Microsoft they can write their operating systems to work with older WIA drivers. The good news for consumers is that their scanners may be supported longer by their manufacturers. The bad news is that you are stuck with software that only handles the basic functions of scanning. But there is an answer to this problem! WIA is accesable through TWAIN, so many of the scanner programs out there will work with your scanner. And our product, Art-Scan , replaces the interface that you are stuck with. Art-Scan also allows you to have many of the advanced features that your scanner is capable of such as advanced color controls.