[+Chris DiBona, Google's open-source programs manager]
Hi Hannes,
Here's some more info which hopefully sheds some more light on the situation. In June, we released an updated version of Google Chrome that incorporates an integrated PDF viewer ( http://blog.chromium.org/2010/06/bringing-improved-pdf-support-to-google.htm...). This feature provides users with greater security, faster rendering of PDF content and a simpler user experience. Since the technology for the PDF viewer is licensed from a third party, we are unable to open source the code for it at this time or include it with open source Chromium builds. While we found this particular vendor to be the best option that meets all of our goals for the feature, there are many other open source PDF viewers and Chrome extensions that developers can include in their own versions of Chromium.
best, Jeff
On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 3:16 PM, Hannes Hauswedell h2@fsfe.org wrote:
Dear Jeffrey,
I am Hannes of the German chapter of the Free Software Foundation Europe. I contacted Pam Greene on details regarding the PDF-Plugin in Chrome/Chromium. Maybe you can help us with the matter discussed below.
Thank you very much,
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
Best Regards, │ Free Software Foundation Europe █▉ │ Hannes Hauswedell │ German Team █▉█▉█▉ │ │ Coordinator for pdfreaders.org ▉▉ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘
On Monday 01 November 2010 03:20:07 Pam Greene wrote:
Dear Hannes,
Thanks for your note. The PDF plugin is not my area of specialty, but Jeffrey Chang (jeffreyc@google.com) should be able to help you find the information you need.
Best regards,
- Pam
On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Hannes Hauswedell h2@fsfe.org
wrote:
Dear Pam,
Max Senges gave us your contact details, regarding the PDF-Plugin in Chrome / Chromium. As you might be aware, we have launched a web-site and campaign regarding Free Software alternatives to Adobce Acrobat: http://pdfreaders.org
As there has been little information following the original announcement of embedded PDF support in Chrome, we were wondering whether the plugin is licensed under the same terms as the rest of the browser. Now it has recently been stated [1] that this is not the case.
Can you further comment on that? We were surprised to read that with all of Google's commitment to Free Software in recent times (including a Browser, two operating systems…), a PDF-Plugin is not "under your control". (jam@chromium.org)
We would really like to able to recommend a cross platform Free Software web browser, that has integrated Free pdf support. In our ongoing campaign to remove recommendations for Acrobat on government and public sector web-sites and/or adding links to pdfreaders.org, we are confident of increasing visibility of the software recommended on our site. --
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
Best Regards, │ Free Software Foundation Europe █▉ │ Hannes Hauswedell │ German Team █▉█▉█▉ │
│ Coordinator for pdfreaders.org ▉▉ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘
[1] http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=50852#c16