It’s Time To Say Goodbye To Java In Browsers
In the mid-nineties, when the web was young, Sun introduced a technology that brought some of the power of desktop applications into the browser. We all remember waiting for Java applets to load so that we could play a game or join a chat. We also all remember the horrendous security record of that technology — a legacy we’re still dealing with today.
Java applets and the plugins that enable them weren’t a great solution two decades ago when they were introduced, and on the modern web they’re largely irrelevant except in niche enterprise applications. Flash — which doesn’t have a much better security record — and JavaScript have replaced Java applets. But, because Oracle, which purchased Sun, insisted on bundling the Java browser plugin with the Java runtime, many less technical users still have the plugin installed and still fall prey to its security vulnerabilities.