True, and I like using this for syntax-colored views of files. But it's got an annoying tendency to switch to edit mode with very little fuss.

Sometimes I want a viewer to just be a viewer.

Speaking of which: are there any Linux/Unix viewers that do have generalized syntax highlighting support?

You can give vimpager a try. It even supports vimrc. But I have felt it to be considerably slower than less.

chmod :)

It took me way too long to grok that.