Will java plugin distribution end in the near future?

[Amol S.]

In the past few months the two of the three major browsers have dropped support for Java. Mozzilla firefox dropped all suupport for Java in its 52 release on March 7th 2017, and Google Chrome. Microsoft Edge from thestart had no support for Java. This leave only Internet Explorer having support for Java.

My question is, if the major browsers have dropped support for the Java plugin, then why does Java still make updates for its plugin? Also, without the support for the plug-in, does this spell the doom for java, on PC's and laptops? Currently the only use of java is for the Android OS back end, which too might be removed from Android soon!

So does this spell doomsday is coming for Oracle's product called "Java"?

 

[mxnerd]

Java plugin is for Java front end program running in browsers, which probably will die since most new web applications are moving into Javascript.

Java runtime is for desktop/server applications, and is used by many server side and desktop Java applications, which won't die for a long period of time.

Oracle's Java installation installs the runtime and browser plugins, don't think it will end anytime soon (probably only the browser plugin part).

 

[AMDisTheBEST]

Java web applets still exist??? Wow, I thought they are already gone from browser before I was borne.

Most browsers today use JavaScript. If java isn’t decommission yet for browsers, it really ought to.

 

[Cogman]

Removed from android? Ahahahaahahahahahahaaa.

Sorry, but that is too funny.

We are talking 10 or 20 YEARS before google would remove java support. They would have to scrap every app in the app store! That would kill them.

Java isn't going anywhere. It is HEAVILY used server side and even pretty significantly used in embedded devices. The fact that the browser isn't supporting it means almost nothing, the java applet market share was already killed by flash which has already died from javascript.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Android Java is from Google not Oracle and will be there forever. Your linked story says nothing about removing it "soon": "Java as its first-class language, and sources say Swift is not meant to replace Java, at least initially." Even if swift ever became the "preferred" language years from now that says nothing about dropping Java.

There is some remaining desktop use of Java in apps like LibreOffice. I have no sense of how much Java is used for corporate in-house / intranet Java desktop apps. I could see Oracle dropping PC and Mac desktop support to cut costs if they are no longer making any money from corporate users on the desktop. Desktop apps are not the security nightmare that the browser plugins gave us.

The server-side use of Java is still huge and the tools make Oracle money.

 

[Cogman]

Android Java is from Google not Oracle and will be there forever. Your linked story says nothing about removing it "soon": "Java as its first-class language, and sources say Swift is not meant to replace Java, at least initially." Even if swift ever became the "preferred" language years from now that says nothing about dropping Java.

There is some remaining desktop use of Java in apps like LibreOffice. I have no sense of how much Java is used for corporate in-house / intranet Java desktop apps. I could see Oracle dropping PC and Mac desktop support to cut costs if they are no longer making any money from corporate users on the desktop. Desktop apps are not the security nightmare that the browser plugins gave us.

The server-side use of Java is still huge and the tools make Oracle money.

Not much reason for them to drop the desktop. They haven't been working on the internal desktop api's for years now, and I suspect that will just be how it is. The swing/javafx we have today will just linger on forever with few to minor changes. As for just getting the JVM running on desktops, that isn't such a huge burden either as a large number of servers are x86 based like their desktop counterparts. Perhaps they may one day drop support for windows (especially since MS now has the linux subsystem in place) but that would be in the distant future and probably after MS drops support for windows server.

 

[AMDisTheBEST]

Removed from android? Ahahahaahahahahahahaaa.

Sorry, but that is too funny.

We are talking 10 or 20 YEARS before google would remove java support. They would have to scrap every app in the app store! That would kill them.

Java isn't going anywhere. It is HEAVILY used server side and even pretty significantly used in embedded devices. The fact that the browser isn't supporting it means almost nothing, the java applet market share was already killed by flash which has already died from javascript.

Google has plenty of alternatives. Heck, Kolin is now an official language for android and android apps can be done in c++ and python.

There is nothing wrong with java. I build many applications with it and right now it is the only language I am competent at. However, I am gonna make sure it is not going to be my only and most used language for long.

 

[AMDisTheBEST]

Android Java is from Google not Oracle and will be there forever. Your linked story says nothing about removing it "soon": "Java as its first-class language, and sources say Swift is not meant to replace Java, at least initially." Even if swift ever became the "preferred" language years from now that says nothing about dropping Java.

There is some remaining desktop use of Java in apps like LibreOffice. I have no sense of how much Java is used for corporate in-house / intranet Java desktop apps. I could see Oracle dropping PC and Mac desktop support to cut costs if they are no longer making any money from corporate users on the desktop. Desktop apps are not the security nightmare that the browser plugins gave us.

The server-side use of Java is still huge and the tools make Oracle money.

Android java is still just plain old java but with the android framework. Many things from the native java library like files, collections, and such will work. That is how I was able to build my encryption app.
https://github.com/GAO23/Chain_Encryption/blob/master/README.md

The java crypto library works on both android and any other machine.

But if I am to move to something like c++, I may have to tweak the code a bit to make them compatible. I am just not gonna bother. Java is best for cross platform compatibility.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Android java is still just plain old java but with the android framework. Many things from the native java library like files, collections, and such will work. That is how I was able to build my encryption app.
https://github.com/GAO23/Chain_Encryption/blob/master/README.md

The java crypto library works on both android and any other machine.

But if I am to move to something like c++, I may have to tweak the code a bit to make them compatible. I am just not gonna bother. Java is best for cross platform compatibility.

I meant that Oracle is not the provider of Google's Java implementation for Android. So if Oracle decided to stop supporting Java outside of servers it means nothing to Android. And Google can't drop Java support in Android any time in the next decade or more, too many existing applications are written in it. If they tried, the phone manufacturers would probably say "fork you!" and add it in themselves.

 

[Cogman]

Google has plenty of alternatives. Heck, Kolin is now an official language for android and android apps can be done in c++ and python.

There is nothing wrong with java. I build many applications with it and right now it is the only language I am competent at. However, I am gonna make sure it is not going to be my only and most used language for long.

It isn't about options, it is about usage. Almost everyone uses java today. So even talking about dropping support is a pointless. They may decide to stop adding new features to their java API, but they MUST maintain it. Otherwise, they will run into problems with existing apps.

Kotlin doesn't really matter here, if anything, it strengthens the reason for supporting java because they are basically turning kotlin->bytecode->DEX. (and java goes java->bytecode->DEX).

Java will be supported, at least, for the next decade on android. There is simply no way around not supporting it without causing a whole bunch of heart ache. Similar to how MS had to support freaking 16 bit applications for an insane amount of time (and people STILL complained when they dropped support). Platforms are nearly impossible to remove once they've taken root.

Android java is still just plain old java but with the android framework. Many things from the native java library like files, collections, and such will work. That is how I was able to build my encryption app.
https://github.com/GAO23/Chain_Encryption/blob/master/README.md

The java crypto library works on both android and any other machine.

But if I am to move to something like c++, I may have to tweak the code a bit to make them compatible. I am just not gonna bother. Java is best for cross platform compatibility.

Android java is not plain java. See lambda support or try with resources for a good examples of why not. Android java is google's reimagining of the language, mostly to get around copyright/patent fees to oracle/sun. It is not, however, really truly java. The difference doesn't always arise but when it does, it can be really painful.

Similar to how GWT isn't really java (admittedly with less problems).

 

[AMDisTheBEST]

Android java is not plain java. See lambda support or try with resources for a good examples of why not. Android java is google's reimagining of the language, mostly to get around copyright/patent fees to oracle/sun. It is not, however, really truly java. The difference doesn't always arise but when it does, it can be really painful.

Similar to how GWT isn't really java (admittedly with less problems).

The syntax are the same however, so is most features, except lambda, but that is a newer feature on the java 8 i believe. I did see a few hiccups in a few libraries but overall, most non android related java codes i wrote for desktop work on android as well. I wonder what is really distinguishing one language from another. is it the syntax? the libraries? or the compiler?