Wolfram Reveals His CDF Plans at Inspire

The PDF (Portable Document Format) now has competition in the making. Conrad Wolfram plans to unveil the CDF, soon. The CDF or the Computable Document Format is under a developing process now. But, at the technology conference in London, Inspire; Wolfram shared his game plan.

What about PDF?

At the conference, Wolfram spoke at length on the creation of, what he calls ‘better tools to illustrate information and let the reader discover new information’. The CDF format, unlike the PDF would allow users to play around with not only the text on the documents, but also the graphics which Wolfram claims, will give them the power to create something better. Their text files will be compatible enough with graphs and other figures and also leave room for editing, if need be – a feature absent in the PDF by Adobe. The CDF also aims at aiding students in educational institutions with the creation of digital textbooks or other innovations.

The major benefit that the CDF would bring to the table, and helps it separate itself from the PDF is the freedom to make changes to the existing document. Wolfram cited multi-usability of the CDF format by media professionals, students, and regular users. However, much cannot be stated before the CDF makes a final appearance. But, does this mean the end of the road for the PDF?

Source: The Telegraph