Oracle is finally getting rid of the Java browser plugin

[Shawn Knight]

Oracle has announced that it'll soon be killing off the Java browser plugin, news that security-conscious users and IT professionals will no doubt welcome with open arms.

In a brief blog post, Oracle acknowledged that by late 2015, many browser makers either removed or announced timelines for the removal of plugins that use the old Netscape Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) standard – a decision that eliminated the ability to embed Flash, Java, Silverlight and other plugins.

True enough, Java has been a thorn in the side of web security for years. Kaspersky Lab said that in 2012, Java was responsible for 50 percent of all cyber attacks in which hackers broke into a computer by exploiting bugs in software. It got so bad that even the Department of Homeland security urged consumers to disable Java.

Oracle said it plans to deprecate the Java browser plugin in JDK (Java Development Kit) 9 which is slated to be released on September 22 of this year. They're not necessarily killing it in one fell swoop but rather sweeping it under the rug. It will ultimately be removed from the Oracle JDK and JRE in a future Java SE release, the company said.

Oracle recommends that developers of apps that rely on the Java browser plugin consider alternative options such as migrating to the plugin-free Java Web Start technology. Oracle also published a white paper with information on how to migrate away from the Java plugin.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/63635-oracle-finally-getting-rid-java-browser-plugin.html

 

[Greg S]

Java in general needs to die with it's annoying runtime environment. We don't need another crappy piece of software between the applications and the OS.

 

[axiomatic13]

Ahhhh Java heaps.... my old nemesis. I hope I never have to manage garbage memory heaps ever again in my applications development.

 

[CrisisDog]

Our company runs on Java plugins for Internet Explorer. Looks like there's something bigger to worry about than getting us off of the now defunct Java 7 runtime environment. Hahahaha...

 

[lripplinger]

Thank the maker that the garbage Java web browser plugin is getting killed finally. Every computer that I service for clients always has old old, outdated versions. I always uninstall the junk. It just screams: let malware come into my system! I tell my clients they don't need it, and guess what, they never even notice that is gone. It is just like the stupid Adobe Flash crap. Get rid of it.

 

[Puiu]

Java in general needs to die with it's annoying runtime environment. We don't need another crappy piece of software between the applications and the OS.

Java is not the problem. It was just the browser plugin.
If you ever want to to become a programmer for a big company then Java is the leading programming language.

 

[Emexrulsier]

Finally. We use an oracle based WMS system which relays on java and npapi. Maybe this move will finally make the developers update their system because currently we are forced to use IE11 to load the application because browsers such as chrome and edge dont support it.

 

[Forebode]

Our company runs on Java plugins for Internet Explorer. Looks like there's something bigger to worry about than getting us off of the now defunct Java 7 runtime environment. Hahahaha...

ditto. We've been researching for awhile now though, so not much of a surprise. Seems one of our software's was rebuilt with google tools, hope it works.

 

[DelJo63]

It's amazing to me how a little experience leads to such strong, uninformed opinions and how someone calling themselves a "programmer" can't distinguish that every tool has an environment and not all environments are appropriate for all tools.

There are several Development Toolkits for standalone applications, JDK, and TclTK are just two. Got some news; there's lots of other systems in the world other than MS Windows.