Google pushes Portable Native Client to secure native cloud

This title doesn't match the one on The Register, but I think captures the important piece of news: Google appears to be exploring using the Portable Native Client to secure third-party native code running on their compute infrastructure.

I've always been wondering when/if Google would make this move, and they appear to have done it. If Google has the patience, PNaCL seems like a bold longterm play both to secure code on the client (more dubious because of browser fragmentation) and in the cloud.

I'm not sure that more compute power = more science breakthroughs (scientific research is kinda screwed up the way it forces scientists to always validate their hypothesis of lose grant funding) ... but it can't hurt.