Rest in Hell, Java Plug-In

I don't like web Java, but this is terrible for old websites. A few years ago I used the web archive to dig up a ton of old projects on genetic algorithms and fractals, which were really popular in the late 90's and early 2000's. A lot of these pages used Java apps to run simulations in the browser. Since at the time it was the most practical choice.

A few months later, I saw an HN comment that was super relevant to one of these old projects. I dug it up and linked it. However it no longer ran! It just gave a warning about not having the right security certificates or something. Which of course the developer can't fix, since it's long been abandoned.

Another example is the Intuitive Explanation of Bayes Theorem web page: http://www.yudkowsky.net/rational/bayes

This web page used some fantastic java applets to explain Bayes Theorem. A lot of people learned Bayes Theorem through this web page, and it was fairly popular at one time. But none of the applets work anymore. They used to just show a grey box in chrome, and now it's just a static image. All of the functionality could be redone in javascript, maybe. But the author has long since moved on and doesn't have js skill anyway.

Extensive discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10984288