Perhaps, one day, you will run AutoCAD natively in Chrome Web browser

Google's The Chromium Blog is reporting the beta release of its Native Client SDK [software development kit]. Known as NaCl (ie, sodium chloride, salt) for short, it is a compiler for generating x86-32/64 binaries from C/C++ source code.

Here is how a CAD program could be converted to run in the Chrome Web browser:

1. Take the core code of a CAD program, such as the solid modeling kernel and the constraints manager, and then recompile the source code into Native Client code.

2. Rewrite the UI interface in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS [cascading style sheets].

3. Combine the two parts.

Interesting enough, Google suggests against doing heavy computation on a server (aka cloud), because it consume bandwidth and "feel slow." (Similarly, JavaScript is too slow for heavy-duty computing.) The solution, Google feels, is as follows:

(a) Download the data from the cloud to the desktop computer.

(b) Process the data on the desktop computer.

(c) Send a change log periodically to the cloud, with instructions on how to modify the data stored there.

This approach solves the "working on the airplane" problem, in that you can do your work on your notebook computer without Internet access, and then upload the changes once you again have access to the Internet. 

NaCl also includes APIs for accessing the network, DOM, 2D and 3D graphics, and audio. The extensions are known as "Pepper" -- as in salt and pepper.

I wonder what this means for something like Autodesk's Project Butterfly or Dassault Systemes SolidWorksV6-on-a-Cloud?

Source.

Comments

[Tathagata]

NaCl will probably be restricted to the ChromeOS (as and when that happens), although Google says that Mozilla is supporting the effort. 3D on the browser will most likely take the route via WebGL (a standards based route).

WebGL is already available in the nightly builds of Firefox, Chrome and Safari. That said, it is unlikely that it will be available on IE soon enough. But that shouldn't be a big problem.

As for JavaScript being slow - I think a more pertinent problem is that people don't know how to program well in JavaScript. There is no reason why it will remain slower than native code.

I also think that Autodesk, Dassault-Systemes and others are likely to be evaluating WebGL too right now.

[Sean Doughtie]

That dream becoming reality would be nice, I doubt but Autodesk will ever become that open.

[Steve Johnson]

Besides the inherent disadvantages of running a specialist product in a generic tool designed for a different purpose, why would people trust their sensitive CAD data to a company with a privacy reputation that lies in tatters?

[Devon T. Sowell]

Editing CAD Models online and a cloud hosted simple CAD PDM app are two different issues.

Simple CAD PDM will come first.

Editing CAD models in the cloud is a long way off in the future.

Devon Sowell

[Ralph Grabowski]

AutoCAD is working on the editing part through their Israelli acquisition of VisualTao, now renamed Project Butterfly. I have an article on it in Monday's upFront.eZine.