Four and a half months ago, Google indicated that it was developing an "integrated PDF viewing experience" for Chrome.  Now it’s arrived – sort of.  An integrated PDF viewer has at least been introduced to the beta channel.

The beta channel represents a step forward versus the developer channel, anyway.  Plus, although there are presumably some quirks left to iron out, it sounds like Google’s done a nice job of designing the viewer.

Software engineer John Abd-El-Malek wrote on the Google Chrome Blog today, "With the integrated Chrome PDF viewer now available in Chrome’s beta, you can open a PDF document in Chrome without installing additional software.  The PDF document will load as quickly and seamlessly as a normal web page in the browser."

Then Abd-El-Malek continued, "Just like we do with web pages viewed in Chrome, we’ve built in an additional layer of security called the ‘sandbox’ around the Chrome PDF viewer to help protect you from malware and security attacks that are targeted at PDF files."

So, sooner rather than later, it appears that normal Chrome users will get the opportunity to open legal documents, corporate reports, and all other sorts of stuff with a minimum of hassle.

Chrome may find new favor with businesspeople as a result.