[gogopuppygogo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF

It became open source in 2008 so it’s definitely here to stay.

[geogra4]

It is a format that doesn't know what it wants to be.

Is it an image?

Text?

Vector graphics?

Electronic forms?

How about all of the above.

[marcinzm]

It's basically digital paper and since paper can be all those things so can PDFs.

[giantDinosaur]

Can paper run ad-tracking analytics scripts though? ;-)

[marcinzm]

Have a single copy of the paper in a place with a sign in sheet and now you're tracking everyone who looks at it.

[eat_veggies]

can pdf?

[easton]

Given that PDFs can embed JavaScript, they can embed ad tracking software, yes. And Linux VMs. And a port of WinAmp.

[sjy]

I don’t think any of that is possible with the JavaScript APIs exposed (if any) by common PDF readers. I’ve tried to do useful things with JavaScript in a PDF and failed utterly. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32597283/can-javascript-...

[jcynix]

Tracking is one possible problem. The other is, that JavaScript can modify the document itself, so a part of a contract for example might print out differently depending on conditions.

That's why PDF/A for archiving was created which disallows various components, cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF%2FA

[randomdude402]

I didn't know they could embed javascript. That's horrifying.

[mpweiher]

Fortunately many PDF viewers don't run them.

[inquirerofsorts]

> all of the above

You forgot malware

https://www.thesecurityblogger.com/distributing-malware-insi...

[jbverschoor]

It renders properly. HTML doesn't even know if it wants to be an application or a document.