Apple has finally kicked the Java browser plug-in out of Mac OS X after it started receiving a lot of fire from security experts on its vulnerability to hackers. Apple has now responded by removing it from its desktop operating system. Earlier, it had stopped shipping with Java by default, and only provided the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) as an option during installation, which also got disabled if the Java plugin wasn’t used in the past 35 days. The matter escalated this August when a critical bug in Java resulted in some attacks, which was patched only a week later by Oracle. Security researchers have claimed to find several new bugs ever since and have asked users to get rid of Java altogether, if possible. Apple has taken the decision for its users in the meantime, it is a known policy for which to be hostile towards third party plugins on its platforms like it was towards Adobe’s Flash. The first time users try to access an applet, they will be
greeted with a “Missing Plugin” box which will give the user an opportunity to go to Oracle’s website and install the Java plugin directly from Oracle if they really want to use it. This will put the ball into user’s and Oracle’s court to ensure that the plugin is kept updated at all times to avoid being attacked by future vulnerabilities. One thing is clear however, Apple has been creepily accurate about making predictions about the future of technologies, like it was in the case of Flash on mobile, which was eventually killed by Adobe, whatever the reasons might have been. The same could also be extrapolated in the case of Java, which is definitely on the decline these days when mostly JavaScript and HTML5 are revered by web developers. Who uses applets on websites anyway?
