As we’ve reported several times, Google is introducing big changes in its Chrome browser, especially when it comes to how the browser handles extensions. If you’ve regularly used either or both of the most popular open source Internet browsers–Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox–then you’re probably familiar with the performance and security problems that some extensions for them can cause.
In late 2013, Google decreed that the longstanding Netscape Plug-in API (NPAPI), which extensions have worked with for many years, is the source of many of the problems. And, Google decreed that extensions in the Chrome Web Store would be phasing out NPAPI support. Now, Google has delivered an update on its plan to remove NPAPI from Chrome, and the hope is that the move will improve the browser’s speed and stability, and limit complexity in its code base.
Google plans to block all plugins by default in January 2015, remove support entirely in September of 2015.
