WebUSB Origin Trial results from Chrome 56
Reilly Grant
Summary
The WebUSB origin trial started in Chrome 54. Chrome 59 is the last release it is intended to be available as an Origin Trial. We have now collected various feedback and are sharing it according to the Origin Trials process. This summary includes data up to the release of Chrome 57 to stable channel users on or around March 14th.
Note we’re publishing feedback before the end of the trial in order to provide time to land code, enable or disable the feature etc in the first release after the trial ends.
The original Intent to Experiment targeted launch in Chrome 51 this was delayed and an updated schedule was posted with the Chrome 54 to 56 schedule. An Intent to Continue Experimenting was published before the Chrome 57 branch cut announcing the timeline for a second Origin Trial from Chrome 57 to Chrome 59.
Contact email
Spec and chromestatus.com entry
Previous reports
Developer interest
Tokens for access to the original Origin Trial were generated for 75 origins. These tokens were then renewed 43 times. As of March 14th, 2017, 25 requests for tokens to access the second Origin Trial have been processed.
For example, https://01org.github.io/zephyrjs-ide/ is a web-based IDE for devices running Zephyr OS, allowing code to be written and then uploaded to the board over USB.
According to our survey results developers were investigating WebUSB for the following types of projects:
Developer feedback
On a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being very easy and 5 being very hard developers rated the WebUSB an average of 2.48 out of 5 for ease of use,
Top developer issues include:
Requests to access HID, serial and storage devices.
Issues with Chrome’s support for accessing USB devices on Windows.
Lessons learned from our goals for experimentation
Nothing new to report. The first update included answers to our experimental questions which have remained unchanged.
Timeline
First stable release enabled: Chrome 54, October 18, 2016
Last stable release with original experiment parameters: Chrome 56, Jan 31st, 2017
Origin Trial tokens from the first experiment expire: Mar 6th, 2017 (about one week before Chrome 57 was released)
First stable release with new experiment parameters: Chrome 57, Mar 14th, 2017
Origin Trial tokens for the new experiment expire: July 25th, 2017 (about one week before Chrome 60 is released)
Usage data (UMA)
The following metrics come from UMA.
Usage in general, especially calls to navigator.usb.getDevices() continue to trend upwards.
The usage of bulk/interrupt transfers is now greater than control transfers.
Isochronous transfers are currently unused.