>Firefox is also favoring a phase-out of NPAPI usage, for largely the same reasons, though they are dragging it out longer.

Guess it'll be time to say Auto Updates -> Off.

Until the websites and services I use migrate to a different solution, if at all possible, I just will open myself up to vulnerabilities and security risks and stop updating at all.

I wonder how many users will do the same?

Maybe the browser companies will get lucky and the companies and services relying on this technology will simply fail since there is no alternative, and they won't have to deal with users holding out, since what they hold out for has been destroyed.