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Java Browser Plugin is Dead, Long Live HTML5!


steven36

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A few days ago, Oracle announced on their blog that they plan to kill the Java browser plugin in their next major version of JDK, scheduled for release in Q1 2017.

 

cFE9pFy.png

 

What does this mean? Should we worry about our browsing experience?

 

This really just means that it won’t be possible to run Java applets in the browser anymore. The infamous “applet” is a technology that was developed by Sun Microsystems in the 90’s and went on to be acquired by Oracle.

 

This technology was still popular in many exploit kits over the last two years but in the last year alone we saw a sudden shift where kits removed Java support in favor of embedding more Adobe Flash exploits and direct browser exploits. 

 

So, for an average user, the impact of this sudden passing will be pretty minimal. Most average users might not realize that the majority of web browsers have already done away with support for the API needed to run the Java plugin.

 

For business users that still need to run Java in the browser, Oracle is advising that you move to a plugin-free technology like java Web Start. Note, the existing applets will not only need to be switched but it will require new porting.

 

From the security perspective, we wholeheartedly welcome the decision. As we stated before, despite seeing less attacks targeting this particular component, it is still better to reduce the web browser attack surface that is exposed publicly on Internet.

 

In fact, in a perfect world, the decision to squash Java should have come much sooner.

 

Now that HTML5 is mature enough, developers can provide rich applications without using third-party plugins like Java. It is pretty obvious to follow this trend and assume that Adobe Flash is next on the chopping block. Some would say, and rightly so, that this decline in third-party API reliance is closely linked with the growing usage of smartphones that natively do not support them.

 

Some skeptics may wonder if HTML5 is mature enough to provide a real and practical user experience.


In fact, HTML5 is not enough by itself to replace these plugins. But, coupled with CSS3 and JavaScript, developers can now achieve what was impossible even just some months ago. Thanks to enhancements of the JavaScript engine embedded in our web browsers, web pages are even more dynamic and fast to load than ever before. We now experience the web with animations, moving canvases, and even mobile haptic feedback. 

 

All these new APIs are opened and distributed by the W3C, web browser software providers can then develop new features based on their recommendations. This means they have end to end control of the implementation of these features. Even if a vulnerability is found they can push a hot fix within a couple of hours or days. From a security point of view, end-users will be safer as they will not have to deal with cumbersome manual updates any longer. 

 

-= FortiGuard Lion Team =-

 

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Good, the java plugin is dead to me, I haven't installed it for years. The websites I visit don't require java and if they did it wouldn't be a website I would want to use.

Same goes for silverlight, shockwave and flash player.

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Airstream_Bill

Haven't used that Junk for years myself.

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12 minutes ago, Airstream_Bill said:

Haven't used that Junk for years myself.

Its been a good way to catch a virus since windows 98..And most websites have abandoned  it long ago . I dont even have Java installed in windows anymore  to tell you the truth. I only use Java free  programs in windows.  :) 

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Java applet are very rare nowadays. Not surprising this choice.

 

Flash is dead

Silverlight is dead

Java Applet is dead

 

Perfect!

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49 minutes ago, SMH17 said:

Java applet are very rare nowadays. Not surprising this choice.

 

Flash is dead

Silverlight is dead

Java Applet is dead

 

Perfect!

 

This is what I call showing your ignorance of the subject matter.  Java is alive and well in many applications used in businesses and educational institutions.  There is going to be a lot of scrambling to replace applications that use the java plugin in those scenarios.  Or else they will keep using whatever the last plugin version is whether it is vulnerable or not.  There are even problems in the past year with apps not working with the latest java updates and having to delay distribution until an app update is released or a patch written.  Flash is far from dead as many websites still use it, which is obvious by the number of popups I get that state flash needs to be enabled on a website, The same goes for Silverlight.  I could declare SMH17 dead and probably be more correct that his statement, just because of the longevity of software and systems.  If you don't believe that then remember that DOS was declared dead in 1995 when Windows 95 came out but I still use DOS based batch files and commands and it still is an underlying layer in windows, regardless of what Microsoft claims.  

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22 minutes ago, straycat19 said:

This is what I call showing your ignorance of the subject matter.  Java is alive and well in many applications used in businesses and educational institutions.  There is going to be a lot of scrambling to replace applications that use the java plugin in those scenarios.  Or else they will keep using whatever the last plugin version is whether it is vulnerable or not.  There are even

problems in the past year with apps not working with the latest java updates and having to delay distribution until an app update is released or a patch written.  Flash is far from dead as many websites still use it, which is obvious by the number of popups I get that state flash needs to be enabled on a website, The same goes for Silverlight.  I could declare SMH17 dead and probably be more correct that his statement, just because of the longevity of software and systems.  If you don't believe that then remember that DOS was declared dead in 1995 when Windows 95 came out but I still use DOS based batch files and commands and it still is an underlying layer in windows, regardless of what Microsoft claims.  

 

Kiddy, Ignorance is a term that you must to use for yourself. Java applet aren't used in any modern web application. Are slow with many security problems and hard to maintain.

 

Ah ...I'm am a Java developer myself. Have you ever tried to code a web application with swing and awt?

 

Java is Alive Java applet NO... The death of Java applet doesn't mean the death of Java are two different things. Java is a good language, a versatile platform not only applet but Java Applet is dead. 

The fact that old companies will continue to use their old software after the end of the support doesn't change the fact. No serious company or developers will use Java Applet anymore it's only matter of time.

 

Now that I have wasted my time to answer your arrogant message. Go to study why Oracle decided to stop Applet support, and do the same for Adobe with web version of Flash. And speak after you have done your homework.

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3 hours ago, straycat19 said:

 

This is what I call showing your ignorance of the subject matter.  Java is alive and well in many applications used in businesses and educational institutions.  There is going to be a lot of scrambling to replace applications that use the java plugin in those scenarios.  Or else they will keep using whatever the last plugin version is whether it is vulnerable or not.  There are even problems in the past year with apps not working with the latest java updates and having to delay distribution until an app update is released or a patch written.  Flash is far from dead as many websites still use it, which is obvious by the number of popups I get that state flash needs to be enabled on a website, The same goes for Silverlight.  I could declare SMH17 dead and probably be more correct that his statement, just because of the longevity of software and systems.  If you don't believe that then remember that DOS was declared dead in 1995 when Windows 95 came out but I still use DOS based batch files and commands and it still is an underlying layer in windows, regardless of what Microsoft claims.  

You are obviously from the real IT world.  Enjoy your posts & insights.

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13 hours ago, Sonar said:

If they start with the browser plugin Minecraft is next!

I doubt  it  still,  there's  right many programs that use it, I still use it in Linux  to run LibreOffice .. Already  Google  Chrome had stop supporting the plugin and Firefox  is going to stop giving you and option to turn it on sometime in the future.  If hardly  no more major  browsers will support it..  its no use to keep making something that's obsolete.

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3 hours ago, steven36 said:

I doubt  it  still,  there's  right many programs that use it, I still use it in Linux  to run LibreOffice .. Already  Google  Chrome had stop supporting the plugin and Firefox  is going to stop giving you and option to turn it on sometime in the future.  If hardly  no more major  browsers will support it..  its no use to keep making something that's obsolete.

 

LibreOffice uses Java platform but isn't a Java Applet... Oracle dropped only Java "Applet" (aka the subset of Java for web front-end in client-side applications made for the execution through the java browser plugin) not the whole platform that is still active and in development with many versions coming in the next years. Java Platform will have no problem the difference will be that future versions of Oracle Java distributions will have only runtime environment without browser plugin for applet loading. That's all.

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23 minutes ago, SMH17 said:

 

LibreOffice uses Java platform but isn't a Java Applet... Oracle dropped only Java "Applet" (aka the subset of Java for web front-end in client-side applications made for the execution through the java browser plugin) not the whole platform that is still active and in development with many versions coming in the next years. Java Platform will have no problem the difference will be that future versions of Oracle Java distributions will have only runtime environment without browser plugin for applet loading. That's all.

I already know  this that's what  the op says...but the reason there doping is because browsers  are dropping  them  anyway . It saves money..  why make something  that  vendors will not support ?  Most people  except for some business and schools  want  know its gone  . Ive not used  the Java plugin  since many years ago Firefox  disabled it by default even for many years . ♨_♨

 

 

 

 

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21 minutes ago, steven36 said:

I already know  this that's what  the op says...but the reason there doping is because browsers  are dropping  them  anyway . It saves money..  why make something  that  vendors will not support ?

 

According your previous message you seems confused about the fact the installation of Java Runtime Enviroment needed for Libre office it's totally unrelated to the drop of java browser plugin (that is only a little piece of this). Oracle will continue to develop and improve Java Runtime Enviroment, only the browser plugin will be dropped.

 

Aren't the browsers that dropped Java Applet, the developers dropped Java applet because as I have said it's hard to maintain and has tons of security problems, for client side frontend in web applications there are way better solutions. The rest of platform It's a different matter and It's widely used everywhere now and will be widely used also in future.

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16 minutes ago, SMH17 said:

 

According your previous message you seems confused about the fact the installation of Java Runtime Enviroment needed for Libre office it's totally unrelated to the drop of java browser plugin (that is only a little piece of this). Oracle will continue to develop and improve Java Runtime Enviroment, only the browser plugin will be dropped.

 

Aren't the browser that dropped Java Applet, the developers dropped Java applet because as I have said it's hard to maintain and has tons of security problems, for client side frontend in web applications there are way better solutions. The rest of platform It's a different matter and It's widely used everywhere now and will be widely used also in future.

Ive not had  a problem with  a java virus  since  the early 2000s  back when  websites actuality used it.  Its been turned off for years in Firefox

Click-to-Play Plugins, Blocklist-Style

  https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2012/10/11/click-to-play-plugins-blocklist-style/

 

I never ever had a problem with flash ether  and that's going no were anytime soon  I keep it off when not using it. Firefox done announced  long ago and chrome  has already dropped long before Oracle  said they was dropping it dude.

NPAPI Plugins in Firefox

https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2015/10/08/npapi-plugins-in-firefox/

 

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4 minutes ago, steven36 said:

Ive not had  a problem with  a java virus  since  the early 2000s  back when  websites actuality used it.  Its been turned off for years in Firefox

Click-to-Play Plugins, Blocklist-Style

  https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2012/10/11/click-to-play-plugins-blocklist-style/

 

I never ever had a problem with flash ether  and that's going no were anytime soon  I keep it off when not using it. Firefox done announced  long ago and chrome  has already dropped long before Oracle  said they was dropping it dude.

 

 

It's not a matter of virus but security exploits. 

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51 minutes ago, SMH17 said:

 

 

It's not a matter of virus but security exploits. 

Its kind of hard  to be exploited  when you dont have something turned on  for years . I stopped installing in windows back right after version 8 came out  like 2014  when i stop using JDownloader and Vuze ..Back in 2001  it came in windows  Microsoft got sued  for stealing  Java I remember  switching to sun java  . :P

 

http://windowsitpro.com/windows/microsoft-sun-settle-java-lawsuit

 

Its just like Flash  it a windows  update in win 8 and 10 people  should complain  to Microsoft for making it such  .

 

 

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I use vuze (I dont search for programs to download in vuze now I search in google download the dotvuze file drag and drop it into vuze or copy and paste the hash code and put it in vuze works like a charm) and have used click to play in opera its annoying to much security to me. 

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11 minutes ago, Holmes said:

I use vuze (I dont search for programs to download in vuze now I search in google download the dotvuze file drag and drop it into vuze or copy and paste the hash code and put it in vuze works like a charm) and have used click to play in opera its annoying to much security to me. 

vuze and J downloader  are both good  . But  when Java 8 came out I had portables  of it  and they wanted me have to install x64  of java  too ... to much installing for things  that can be easy replaced  .  i  just switched to qBittorrent and I use megadownloder  and IDM on windows now.

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21 hours ago, Purple Trail said:

Good, the java plugin is dead to me, I haven't installed it for years. The websites I visit don't require java and if they did it wouldn't be a website I would want to use.

Same goes for silverlight, shockwave and flash player.

More than dead..Unless of course you play Minecraft that is..:P

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On 6/2/2016 at 7:58 AM, SMH17 said:

 

Kiddy, Ignorance is a term that you must to use for yourself. Java applet aren't used in any modern web application. Are slow with many security problems and hard to maintain.

 

Ah ...I'm am a Java developer myself. Have you ever tried to code a web application with swing and awt?

 

Java is Alive Java applet NO... The death of Java applet doesn't mean the death of Java are two different things. Java is a good language, a versatile platform not only applet but Java Applet is dead. 

The fact that old companies will continue to use their old software after the end of the support doesn't change the fact. No serious company or developers will use Java Applet anymore it's only matter of time.

 

Now that I have wasted my time to answer your arrogant message. Go to study why Oracle decided to stop Applet support, and do the same for Adobe with web version of Flash. And speak after you have done your homework.

 

You are totally wrong...Many professional application and some EDMS uses java applet, and Java doesn't live only through applet, it is an underlying component in many machine and tools you use on daily basis... Ok you understood the point that applet is different to java itself, but clearly you don't know what you are talking about when you say that java applets are dead !

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16 hours ago, tiliarou said:

 

You are totally wrong...Many professional application and some EDMS uses java applet, and Java doesn't live only through applet, it is an underlying component in many machine and tools you use on daily basis... Ok you understood the point that applet is different to java itself, but clearly you don't know what you are talking about when you say that java applets are dead !

I work in the IT sector as software engineer you don't know what are you talking about. Tell me what new companies have adopted Java Applet in recent years. There are companies that uses Java Applets as well companies that still uses Windows 2000 or Windows Xp but have chosen this solutions many years ago NOT NOW, and still have this for lack of resources or excessive efforts needed to migrate to better alternatives. Only a dumb choose Applets for his company nowadays not a skilled CTO. When also Its company stop to support its own technology this can be declared dead. It's a FACT!

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6 hours ago, SMH17 said:

I work in the IT sector as software engineer you don't know what are you talking about. Tell me what new companies have adopted Java Applet in recent years. There are companies that uses Java Applets as well companies that still uses Windows 2000 or Windows Xp but have chosen this solutions many years ago NOT NOW, and still have this for lack of resources or excessive efforts needed to migrate to better alternatives. Only a dumb choose Applets for his company nowadays not a skilled CTO. When also Its company stop to support its own technology this can be declared dead. It's a FACT!

I'm not saying it's best practice to keep obsolete apps and OS, but this is still a reality. I'm not saying their IT policy are good in any way but still you can find unprofessional admin that are too lazy to keep up with the permanent changes... I'm as pissed as you when talking about them but I know for a fact not so small companies using java applet and unupdated softwares on daily basis. Sometimes it can also be due to a software maker that you woked with for years and that didn't took the appropriate measures to secure its apps. I'm just saying that it exists and it's also a FACT.

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5 hours ago, tiliarou said:

I'm not saying it's best practice to keep obsolete apps and OS, but this is still a reality. I'm not saying their IT policy are good in any way but still you can find unprofessional admin that are too lazy to keep up with the permanent changes... I'm as pissed as you when talking about them but I know for a fact not so small companies using java applet and unupdated softwares on daily basis. Sometimes it can also be due to a software maker that you woked with for years and that didn't took the appropriate measures to secure its apps. I'm just saying that it exists and it's also a FACT.

I haven't said nobody in the world has applet but no company choose applet nowadays for its web applications. This is enough to declare dead a technology and if also its company stop the support is dead 2 times.

So Applet is dead, FACT.

 

 

 

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