In recent years, rumours have abounded of a Google operating system, perhaps based on the Ubuntu version of Linux widely used within the company, but, on Monday, the search giant revealed an open-source project that provides a different answer to the same problem: Native Client.
Some have been sceptical about Google releasing an operating system of its own, arguing that the company has a predominantly web-based view of the world. But web apps have limits — the impressive gains of Google Docs notwithstanding — and Native Client is geared to address those.
"At Google we're always trying to make the web a better platform. That's why we're working on Native Client, a technology that aims to give web developers access to the full power of the client's CPU, while maintaining the browser neutrality, OS portability and safety that people expect from web applications," said Brad Chen of Google's Native Client team in a blog posting.
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