The Windows Chrome release was Google’s first version to integrate Adobe Flash Player in its Pepper Plugin API (PPAPI) sandboxing. Adobe’s decision to depart from Flash client development has triggered Google to take the task of incorporating Flash Player to Google Chrome, the company’s market-leading web browser.
It was last week that the search giant released the latest version of its web browser, but it now reveals that it is the first Windows version to feature Flash Player with PPAPI sandboxing.
Google software engineer Justin Schuh said that previous Netscape Plugin API (NPAPI) web browser plug-ins were relatively easier to develop but had high-risk to vulnerabilities, which proved difficult to integrate web browser developments.
“The thinness [of the NPAPI framework] allowed legacy browser and OS behaviour to bleed through and crystallize to the point that it hamstrung future improvements. As browsers add compelling features like sandboxing, GPU acceleration, and a multi-process architecture, the legacy of NPAPI severely impedes or outright prevents us from extending those improvements to any pages with plug-in content,” Schuh explained.
He added that removal of the legacy code allowed Google to cut by 20 percent the probability of Flash Player crashes. Another is that Flash content can now use hardware acceleration for an improved overall performance.
Schuh verified that Mac OS X Chrome users will receive the same feature on an upcoming update, whereas Linux users have been using it since Chrome 20.
(More: Google Chrome Most Popular Web Browser, Now Covers One-Third of Global Market)
Source: Chromium Blog
Image: Francis Rey












