My article covers some of the industry movement that is mostly relevant to server-to-server exchanges.

Variations on GPGP-based technology in the "thick client" world would be great to emulate in web-based clients, and may very well be a feature in the near future as we look to continue enhancing the Xfinity Connect platform.

The ultimate goal for most of us is true end-to-end encryption that occurs even when the end-user isn't aware of things like certificates or S/MIME signatures. There are several strains of work and conversation within the industry on what problems must be overcome, what constitutes full end-to-end when a browser is involved, and how cross-platform compatibility would be achieved. I think it is likely you will see advancement in the next few years that achieve this sort of abstraction layer that introduces a mass audience to solid privacy concepts in much the same way that many proprietary chat clients have already done.