Reply to post: PDF is fine

Firefox points the way to eradicating one of the rudest words online: PDF

Updraft102

PDF is fine

Because, yes, it's 2022 and we're still expected to choose between different readers and download them like peasants.

You can choose between different readers if you choose to. Personally, I find the one that came with my OS to be more than adequate. It's called Okular, the standard document reader for the KDE Plasma desktop. Still,

I do like having the option to choose another. That's a good thing.

Which one will work with which documents?

We were talking about PDF, so we're concerned with the ones that will work with PDF documents. Working with other formats is a topic for another article.

Which is going to stop halfway down a document until you watch an advert or pay for some Pro version?

Never seen that in Okular.

If you insist on using ad-supported spyware or half-featured trialware, that's a problem with the choices you have made, and it has nothing at all to do with the format of the document that spyware or trialware is meant to read. The same issues exist for literally every type of software in existence.

Security, features, licensing, and all that stuff are an issue in every single program or "app" anyone uses... so why are you acting as if it is somehow unique to PDF readers?

All you wanted to do was read a document that someone sent you in PDF,

If you just wanted to read the document, Firefox has been able to do that for many years.

the world's least favorite format.

No, that would be .docx. PDF is a breath of fresh air compared to Microsoft's ever-changing, poorly-defined, closed format that people seem to think is appropriate for distributing documents, rather than just for saving that document locally before it is printed (either as a hardcopy or as a .pdf for sending electronically).

There is nothing wrong with a document having a fixed appearance that mimics the printed page. That is exactly what it was designed for, and there is still need for them even in 2022. If you want to send a document electronically that will look exactly as intended on the other side, what else are you going to use? I would say "fax," but that only works if you are willing to accept a low-resolution black and white image.

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