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Windows 8 getting a built-in PDF reader, Metro-style
For what seems like an eternity, Download Squad readers have reacted to news of security exploits targeting Adobe Reader with a common sentiment: why doesn't Microsoft build its own secure PDF reader into Windows? Apparently the Windows 8 team agrees, and they're working away at an application called Modern Reader which is exactly that.
From the handful of screenshots Paul Thurrott has shared, it's clear that Modern Reader has been built with Metro in mind. You can see the Reader back button in the top-left corner of the yellow image and the minimal page navigation bar on the right. We've posted some larger images we managed to scrape from Google's cache after the break.
Thurrott also mentions that Modern Reader is the first program spotted which is built using AppX -- a packaging technology that may allow developers to roll a single build to both Windows 8 desktops and Windows Phone 8 mobile devices.
From the handful of screenshots Paul Thurrott has shared, it's clear that Modern Reader has been built with Metro in mind. You can see the Reader back button in the top-left corner of the yellow image and the minimal page navigation bar on the right. We've posted some larger images we managed to scrape from Google's cache after the break.
Thurrott also mentions that Modern Reader is the first program spotted which is built using AppX -- a packaging technology that may allow developers to roll a single build to both Windows 8 desktops and Windows Phone 8 mobile devices.
Comments
15
Subscribe to commentsBatmanApr 4th 2011 5:06PM
Woah... Windows Phone 8?!
JohnMWhiteApr 4th 2011 5:45PM
I'll be glad to see Windows finally get an in-built pdf reader, though I am not a huge fan of the Metro look. And what exactly makes Metro 'authentic'?
a.sibahiApr 4th 2011 7:07PM
@JohnMWhite "Authentic" means it's honest to its "digitality". Modern Architecture (like Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier) describe their works as Authentic, too. It is authentic because it represent the new technologies in buildings .. it doesn't hide its nature.
iBooks is not Authentic, for example. It tries to hide its digitality, so to speak
JApr 4th 2011 5:48PM
I assume in the EU they'll offer a version without the PDF reader -- maybe they'll call it the 'Reduced Document Compatibility Edition'.
JohnMWhiteApr 5th 2011 9:03AM
@a.sibahi - Well now it makes so much sense! Thanks.
Dan P.Apr 5th 2011 7:21PM
@a.sibahi Quit saying "digitality." That's not a word. And for good reason. :P
octoberasianApr 4th 2011 11:22PM
Adobe is not going to be pleased at all.
And, for this, I'm sure will Microsoft will be more diligent than Adobe in terms of security fixes and updates thanks to the monthly first-Tuesday updates.
The sound of Adobe filing a lawsuit in...
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HunterA3Apr 6th 2011 7:42AM
@octoberasian
motangApr 5th 2011 12:23AM
Hmm...I wonder how adobe is going to feel about this.
SlashZakuApr 5th 2011 12:58AM
@motang
How'd they feel about Silverlight, or was that not an issue for them (and isn't MS dropping that?)? Honestly, I wouldn't mind something coming in and taking a stab at Flash (I think that's what HTML5 is for but I haven't really followed all that jazz).
JoshApr 5th 2011 10:05AM
@SlashZaku
Silverlight was competition. You can't sue because someone new enters the market. I'm sure they could file an antitrust lawsuit over this one, though
zeusvn88Apr 5th 2011 11:06AM
@Josh make it optional download in Windows live essentials. that would solve it.
MS seems likeable after all these years.
JoshApr 5th 2011 11:18AM
@zeusvn88 Perhaps, but that defeats the purpose. A Microsoft alternative is Apple's Preview.app is what they need, but given their history, Adobe could stop them from bundling it so fast it isn't even funny.
And I think the entire point of this is to strengthen the security of Windows, given all the zero-day exploits revealed in Reader over the last year or two (and, sometimes, not quickly patched by Adobe), so not bundling it would make it a waste of time for MS, I think.
JoshApr 5th 2011 11:18AM
@Josh
*A Microsoft alternative -to- Apple's Preview.app
Damn typos.
Dan P.Apr 5th 2011 7:32PM
About damn time!
It's kind of ridiculous that the Windows OS can't open a simple PDF file natively, unlike every Linux distribution and Mac. Especially considering that the Adobe reader is made of failure, pain, and suffering. And slowwwwwwwwwwwwwness.
For some reason, everybody else's reader starts instantly and is fast. Adobe invented PostScript and PDF and can't manage to make a simple reader app correctly.
I wish Adobe would just die. Spin off Photoshop and Illustrator to a new company and bury the rest a mile below the surface of the Earth.