14 DAY TRIAL // Google announced last week that it would be phasing out support for older Chrome plugins based on the ancient NPAPI architecture. This is supposed to push vendors into adopting the new Google-developed PPAPI architecture, which comes with some major security improvements but isn't widely supported by other browsers, but also to push developers towards the standard web.
The move is a welcomed and a healthy one for the web overall, but in the short term it will mean some problems for users, websites, and developers.
Still, there's not that much to worry about. For one, Flash, which is by far the most popular and the most useful browser plugin out there, won't have any problems in Chrome since the browser has been shipping with a PPAPI version of the plugin for years now. This means that the change doesn't affect Flash in Chrome in any way.
"Video-specific functionality such as Adobe Primetime DRM (formerly Adobe Access) and Adobe Primetime Player SDKs are also not affected. There is no migration work required, as Chrome browser users have already been using the PPAPI version of Adobe Flash Player," Adobe explained.
Other plugins won't fare as well though. The most popular ones, including Silverlight and the Unity Web Player, will be whitelisted even after the NPAPI plugin ban goes in effect in January 2014. What's more, users will be allowed to re-enable the plugins they need. But this will be a temporary solution and, by the end of 2014, Google plans to remove NPAPI support from Chrome entirely.
Google obviously believes that the web platform is now good enough to replace the need for most plugins, and it's not the only one. Video and audio streams, as well as graphics heavy 2D or 3D games, run natively in the browser now, for example. However, if the standard web is not enough, Google is happy to provide alternatives such as Native Client (a Chrome-only technology) or the new Chrome Apps platform.