XMLHttpRequest was pioneered by Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 in 1999. (Notably, it was in the form of an ActiveX control.) Mozilla first shipped an emulation in December 2000.
Popular ajax web applications were shipped as early as 2000 (Outlook Web Access) and 2002 (Oddpost). The term "ajax" was coined in Feb 2005, around the time of Flickr (2004), Gmail (2004), and Google Maps (2005). But of course the coining of term was a recognition of something that was already happening, not the spark.
The w3c standardized XHR in April 2006, but I think WhatWG may have spec'd it earlier. I can't find the history.
The same thing happened with the DOM, though much quicker. Something you'd recognize as the modern DOM was first shipped by IE 4, in 1997. The first bits of it were standardized by DOM level 1 in late 1998, with most of the rest coming from DOM level 2 in late 2000. The first Netscape implementation was shipped in 2000 (Netscape 6.0).
My point here is that many successful web technologies began just as NaCL is beginning. Technologies have frequently become part of "the open web" through this exact process.
While I believe NaCl is radically different in nature compared to the DOM or XHR additions, regardless, web standards development is a much different game today than it was 5, let alone 10 years ago. We aren't talking about Apple experimenting with some "webkit-" CSS additions, this is something that will essentially use HTTP to deliver C/C++ application code to computers. It's a big deal if it is to become part of the Open Web, and NativeClient has received zero interest thus far from other browser makers. Because of that, it will likely never be a WHATWG approved spec, and this is no secret to Google.
The point of my post that you originally commented to was that web technology needs to be supported, cross-browser, to gain a foothold. NaCl will not see that, yet Google is actively promoting it as part of the web (see announcement blog post).
Popular ajax web applications were shipped as early as 2000 (Outlook Web Access) and 2002 (Oddpost). The term "ajax" was coined in Feb 2005, around the time of Flickr (2004), Gmail (2004), and Google Maps (2005). But of course the coining of term was a recognition of something that was already happening, not the spark.
The w3c standardized XHR in April 2006, but I think WhatWG may have spec'd it earlier. I can't find the history.
The same thing happened with the DOM, though much quicker. Something you'd recognize as the modern DOM was first shipped by IE 4, in 1997. The first bits of it were standardized by DOM level 1 in late 1998, with most of the rest coming from DOM level 2 in late 2000. The first Netscape implementation was shipped in 2000 (Netscape 6.0).
My point here is that many successful web technologies began just as NaCL is beginning. Technologies have frequently become part of "the open web" through this exact process.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_5.0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)