Chrome 14 going neutral in the OS binary
Andy Ruffell / 13 years ago
Google’s Chrome 14, which is currently in beta will feature the Native Client (NaCl) framework as standard. In previous versions this needed to be switched on.
NaCl, which has been around since 2008, allows the developers to compile C or C++ code into an OS-neutral binary that is executed by a browser-integrated runtime. NaCl presents more sophisticated sandboxing techniques than Redmond’s ActiveX, making it more secure. It also provides a messaging mechanism, allowing functions to be called from Javascript in compiled NaCl binaries.
Other than facilitating the developers and making web surfing more secure, this new feature will also enable the use of high-performance native code instead of JavaScript, meaning that more sophisticated games and software will be able to operate within the Web browser, which is basically the bread and butter of Google’s Chrome.
Having known technical difficulties in the past, which have since been solved, Google is encouraging other browser vendors to support this technology, although none have shown much interest.
