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Google set to go Native with Chrome

By Sean Michael Kerner on June 11, 2009 5:35 PM

From the 'big ideas that will change the web' files:

Native Client is coming to Google -- soon. This is big news. Native Client is a technology that will enable a browser to run code over the web (not just JavaScript or Java) but regular software. It's an approach that has profound technological implications in terms of software delivery, the cloud and oh yeah --security.

In a mailing list posting Google Brad Chen, Google's Native Client engineering manager, announced that Native Client (which had been just a research project) is now moving into it early production development phase.

"Based on our experience to date, we believe that the basic architecture of our system is sound and the implementation is supportable," Chen wrote. "So now we are undertaking a number of tasks to transition Native Client from a research technology to a development platform."

Among those tasks, is getting the code into the Chromium project (Chromium is Google's open source development effort that leads to Chrome browser releases). Currently the Native Client is being implemented as a browser plug-in, though Google is planning on fully integrating the technology into the core of Chrome.

It's hard to see exactly when Native Client will end up in Chrome though Chen tries to address that issue.

"Finally, some of you have asked when Native Client will be ready for end-users," Chen wrote. "In this context, we recognize that there is well-justified resistance to installing browser plug-ins. For this reason we have a strong preference for delivering Native Client pre-installed or built into the browser, and we'll be focusing on that as our main strategy for delivering Native Client to users. Careful readers may have already noticed evidence of integration into Chromium <http://dev.chromium.org> in the Native Client source. Recognizing the many technical and non-technical challenges to browser integration, we will continue to support our NPAPI plug-in until we can deliver the system via a better alternative."

It's a very powerful idea -- and one that could in my opinion could further fragment the browser market. Sure, Google will try and get the idea of native code/client standardized in HTML5, but it'll be a challenge.

But wait! Google has it's own applications too right? That's where the magic comes in. Google doesn't have to wait for anyone.The can implement Native Client in Chrome optimize it for Google Apps, providing a browser/web app combo that will be faster than any other competitive offering (potentially).

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