Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Builds a Native PDF Reader Into Chrome

Posted by kdawson on from the hugging-adobe-harder dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google's latest Chrome 6 Developer Update comes with a few subtle GUI changes, but there is also a major update under the hood. As its ties with Adobe quite apparently grow stronger, there is not just an integrated Flash player, but also a native PDF reader in the latest version of Chrome 6. Google says the native reader will allow users to interact with PDF files just like they do with regular HTML pages. The reader is included in Chrome versions (Chromium) 6.0.437.1 and higher, and you can use the feature after you have enabled it manually in the plug-ins menu. That is, of course, if you can keep Chrome 6 alive — Windows users have reported frequent crashes, and Google has temporarily suspended the update progress to find out what is going on." The Register has some more details on the PDF plugin and a link to Google's blog post about it.

4 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by rudy_wayne · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    From the article:

    "The plug-in doesn't do everything that the Adobe Reader does."

    "Google says the PDF rendering quality needs some improving,"

    So Google has written their own PDF plugin that's even crappier than Adobe's. What exactly is the point of this?

  2. A look inside chrome://plugins/ reveals: by v1x · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Google's PDF plugin:
    C:\Users\#########\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\6.0.437.3\pdf.dll (MIME type: application/pdf)

    Adobe's PDF plugin:
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\Browser\nppdf32.dll (MIME types: application/pdf, application/vnd.adobe.pdfxml, application/vnd.adobe.x-mars, application/vnd.fdf, application/vnd.adobe.xfdf, application/vnd.adobe.xdp+xml, application/vnd.adobe.xfd+xml)

    The files themselves appear to be quite different, and handle different MIME types, so hopefully this is not simply Adobe's stuff packaged within Chrome.

  3. Re:Chrome is not an application, it's a widget. by tycoex · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Do you want me to let you know when you gain the ability to match words to pictures like 6 month old toddlers can as well?

  4. I really hope it's poppler by Rix · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    And not that abortion from Adobe.