Google's quest to turn the web into the computer has taken another interesting turn today with this announcement from the company detailing a new technology they are calling "Native Client" which allows a variety of web browsers to incorporate native code modules running on Windows, Mac, or Linux x86 based systems. Provided it meets interoperability and security requirements that the modern computing environment dictates, this effort has the potential to topple yet another of the remaining advantages of traditional desktop-based software by allowing web-based software access to the full range of computing power available from the PC.

I thought that Google's Chrome web-browser, a fast, Webkit based implementation that re-imagines the browser primarily as an application platform rather than simply a page viewer, was a bold stroke toward focusing the industry on better ways to deploy SaaS applications. While the SaaS sector is expanding rapidly of its own volition, fueled by Google itself in no small part, the vast potential of the concept remains untapped, constrained by limitations of browsers and bandwidth. A better designed browser could itself improve this state of affairs, and it doesn't even have to be Chrome; Chrome seems more a concept vehicle, designed at least in part to push other browser makers to incorporate better functionality for web-based applications.

Even if Chrome isn't intended to succeed in and of itself (and it's likely not such a simple binary play... Google would probably be happy with, and may well be planning on, either eventuality) the Native Client project can still keep the company in the mix with browser/PC technology, and allow it to continue to push from another angle to improve SaaS applications. Moreover, the multi-platform approach the company is taking could quickly make the technology a favorite with developers who currently have some poor choice when they are trying to leverage native code, being constrained by browser or platform specific technologies.

Native Client has been opened up to developers; we'll have to see what they come up with over the next few months to see how successfully it might work at bridging the web/desktop application performance divide.