> For another thing, it only worked on the Chrome Web Store
Actually, it works outside of the Web Store, but turning it on outside of the CWS is behind a defaults-to-off flag in the Chrome's settings, because Google didn't want NaCl code getting deployed widely on the web, because they didn't want code that would be locked to one architecture being widely deployed when they knew the plan was for PNaCl to be the long-term replacement.
I'm not going to criticize their thought process behind locking NaCl to CWS; from a standards and 'open web' perspective, that was a sound choice. That doesn't change the fact that it largely contributed to its failure in the market. The game devs I talk to on a regular basis wanted to use NaCl, but couldn't, because it was tied to the CWS.
> That doesn't change the fact that it largely contributed to its failure in the market.
Yes, the fact that Google choose to limit it specifically to prevent it from being widespread in the market contributed to its limited use in the market. But then, since its purpose wasn't to be widely used in the market (hence the restrictions imposed) but to validate technology and components for PNaCl, that's not really that surprising.
Actually, it works outside of the Web Store, but turning it on outside of the CWS is behind a defaults-to-off flag in the Chrome's settings, because Google didn't want NaCl code getting deployed widely on the web, because they didn't want code that would be locked to one architecture being widely deployed when they knew the plan was for PNaCl to be the long-term replacement.