

Google Native Client grows out of research phase - joubert
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10262619-2.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

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enki
the comments over at cnet are very ill-informed.

native client allows you to run x86 assembly code (from a c compiler or even
handwritten) at native speed. that is: no vmmon, but truly native! this is
very different from JIT compilation or other "high performance" runtime
environments.

<http://code.google.com/p/nativeclient/>

combining this with o3d (<http://code.google.com/apis/o3d/>), high performance
javascript and the html5 apis, will make this an extremely powerful platform.

only downside: the security model is rather hard to prove.

~~~
eugenejen
Not only those. If the native client is a go, then we have no need for any
desktop applications on x86 systems, no more dll hell on client side running
x86 code.

This technology maybe the stone that kills Microsoft.

\-- edit -- probably we still need browser and IDE and debugger on desktop. It
is hard to imagine developers wants to use web apps. But maybe we will run
even a disassembler in browser...

~~~
pmjordan
Well, minus anything that would violate security policy. Which is actually
most current desktop apps.

~~~
eugenejen
Yes, you are right. to access local file system. But if you read the porting
guide of native client, you know there is not local file system any more. The
only data they can access is same origin files.

And it seems there is no reason we need to keep files in the long run, if you
buy into the hype from cloud computing.

But I guess that will be another 20 years...

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speby
Ok, I read the article and perhaps this may come across as naive but isn't
that what Flash more or less is already? Aside from the fact that Flash is
designed more visual animations, it certainly does have an application-style
framework (Flex)... one has to wonder what is the Goog bringing here that's
different/better?

~~~
enneff
The two technologies are quite different.

Flash is a platform for executing ActionScript code within a VM with a very
specific feature set. It's not very fast.

NaCl is a means of executing binary code in a sandboxed environment. This
means you can write an app in whatever language you like, and take full
advantage of the host CPU's power. It has the potential to bring the power and
functionality of desktop apps to the web, literally.

~~~
litewulf
Even better: you can potentially take a desktop application that you've
already written, and run it via NaCl.

No need to rewrite into Flash.

~~~
moe
So, this is a download-manager with a heuristic malware scanner builtin and
the "execute after download"-box permanently ticked?

Time to sell some of these GOOG shares.

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crux_
"Satisfied that its security underpinnings are solid"....

Wait a minute, I thought they were rather thoroughly smacked down on security?
([http://www.matasano.com/log/1674/the-security-
implications-o...](http://www.matasano.com/log/1674/the-security-implications-
of-google-native-client/))

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danbmil99
I remember this approach when it was called Active-X..

