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Native Applications on Chromium OS
So, you like the idea of an OS that's just the browser? It brings lots of nice things to the table, such as fast boot times, access to a plethora of great web applications, no worries about storage (it's all online), and all the greatness of the web without the hassle of everything else bundled with operating systems these days.
Except, what if you want to run native applications? What if something requires a much higher level of performance than JavaScript can provide?
Turns out, Google thought about this long ago: they recommend using NativeClient. Right now, though, it's a download for your operating system of choice (Win, Lin, or Mac). The implication, though, is that it will be part of Chromium OS. This could be the missing key for filling in the gap between web and local performance issues and interfaces. Would we ever see a version of Premier, or even Photoshop, written to support such an environment? Yeah, probably not. But it could enable such types of applications and games that require more than what a Javascript environment can handle.
Yet, it could still be delivered through the network, so updates are always applied. Local caching can fill in for when the network isn't available (which happens, regardless of how pervasive it becomes).
But, is it enough? I suspect it would be for most folks. But, for creative folks, back-end business work, engineering, development, and other things, it won't be enough for a while.
And where does Java fit in to this? It fills the gap -- plus some -- on Android.
Posted by Shane on December 13, 2009 2:16 PM | Permalink
