Java Is No Longer Needed. Pull The Plug-In

I don't think there is going to be much argument here. The notion of "fat" plugins -- Java, Flash, Silverlight -- has, for the most part, proven to be one that didn't work out, especially as mobile devices have become ever more prevalent. The essay here [1] could just as easily be applied to Java applets, or really to any platform which attempts to provide an similar functionality.

Whenever Jobs wrote the "Thoughts on Flash" essay there were many spirited defenses of Flash given. What stood out to me is that there were not so many defenses given of Java applets, despite their being similar in many respects. The reason for this is because the problems with applets were well understood by just about everyone. Fewer seemed to be aware (or accepting) of the fact that these same issues were present with Flash.

I think the overall lesson learned is that full-stack, in-browser VMs were an interesting experiment that ultimately failed. Java has its place on the server, and certainly much good which can be said about it. (And bad, of course.) But as an integral part of the web?

No.

[1] http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

While I agree that Java sucks, a lot of us still require Java for web sites that we need. In Sweden for example a few banks still use it for 'secure' login.

iI just finished getting the plugin working with host checker for our juniper vpn at work on Linux. no its not dead and won't be in enterprise for a long long time. Would love for people to find a way though

Finally the java on the client era is over. Initially java was pitched as a client development language, (anyone remember the sun workstations that's only ran a jvm?) - then people realized that java wasn't really cut out for that and it gained traction on the server side. Fortunately nobody in their right mind has used awt for a long time! Now java occupies its place on the server stack and now a jvm can run other languages too.

But java on the client for non developers has not been needed in a long while.