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Can someone please explain to me why running native code coming from a web site is a good idea?

Because I see this as "Google's ActiveX"

Read the paper. It's a subset of x86 that retains better security properties for distribution.

Very interesting. The security features are very thorough.

Of course, until someone finds a vulnerability, or a way through the validator, or an exploit on an abstracted function.

Still, it's a good security model

The good news is its being very actively pro-actively fuzzed and fixed.

Worth looking at too: zeroVM http://zerovm.org/

Someone might as well find a vulnerability in a Javascript engine. What's your point?

At best that takes care of the security issues. The other thing that makes ActiveX an affront to the web is the platform lock-in.

x86 code is not suitable as a web standard. (And neither is the LLVM intermediate representation, for reasons expounded on in e.g. http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.compilers.llvm.devel/4...)

...and Windows Installers are a lousy way to get someone to be able to run your program.

I see Native Client as being an extremely nice solution to several issues at once:

- runs fast

- the programs don't need an installer

- I can trust a Native Client program (that's me personally)