Google Native Client

This mail shows Google's intentions of releasing Native Client for Chrome.

Native client is Google's technology for executing native x86 code rather than the slower javascript counterpart directly in the browser.

Given current Internet speeds and the relative small size of code, plus the use of caches, Native Client holds the promise to marry the best of both worlds: desktop and Internet, and put another nail in the coffin of standalone applications.

Of course, native code has all the security risks associated to native applications. However, the sandbox technology that is already in place in Chrome provides an environment safe enough for public release.

Also, this is one more step in the race between html5 and flash towards this disappearing frontier between the Internet and the standalone application.