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by azakai 5283 days ago
Native Client only works on x86 and x86_64. You can't run Native Client content on your ARM phone or your PowerPC game console. That is very bad for the web, the whole idea of which is that you can access it from anywhere, using anything.

There is some work to try to make it portable, but it is unclear how it will end up (how portable, how fast, how secure, etc.).

Partly because of this, NaCl is not standardized or even a proposed standard, which is another problem for the web.

I do admire the NaCl technology though - it's very neat. Although it's bad for the web, it is good for lots of other things.
2 comments
mvgoogler 5282 days ago
"Native Client only works on x86 and x86_64. You can't run Native Client content on your ARM phone"

Not true: http://www.chromium.org/nativeclient/reference/arm-overview

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azakai 5282 days ago
The point is that Native Client binaries are arch-specific. You only get the archs that you build for: If someone puts up a NaCl site with only x86, it won't work anywhere else. This is a horrible thing for the web.

Yes, you can build for more than one arch. But if you have x86 and x86_64, you are missing ARM. If you add ARM, you are missing PowerPC (consoles) and MIPS (some phones). If you add those, you are still missing new archs that will be invented later.

For this reason Google is working on PNaCl - but it has other issues.

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zobzu 5282 days ago
You need to make it work for it. It's not a very good analogy because parts are portable, but good enough for me: I can recompile my C program for arm. Doesn't make the x86 binary run.
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magicalist 5283 days ago
I agree that NaCl isn't the road forward, but I definitely don't agree that support for it is an indicator of good values.

In your original comment, were you referring to the fact that Opera also runs on money from deals with search providers, yet doesn't support proposals from them if they disagree?

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azakai 5283 days ago
Opera is funded by search deals, but I think I read that they make most of their money from carriers in return for installing Opera Mobile on phones. Not 100% sure though.

In any case, Opera has always been one of the biggest supporters of the open web, through working on standards, opposing things that are bad for the web, etc.

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