Back in the early-early days of the internet, I used to play games in the browser that were Java based like Yahoo! Pool (which amazingly still runs off Java). Back then there was this thing in Windows called Microsoft Java Virtual Machine. The Sun company evidently got all in a twist about that because of copyright infringements and whatnot, sued Microsoft in 1997, settled, and Microsoft was forced to dump it in favor of Sun’s version – which sucked because it ran like garbage. So even way back in the 1990s, I got my first taste of how sucky Java is.
Fast-forward to present. There is no point to having Java installed on your computer anymore. There is nothing you need it for at all. Java is so crappy that it’s one of the few things that can actually cause a Mac to get malware. Yes, really. And it seems that new exploits to the platform are being discovered every other week.
This article says it’s time to give Java the boot; I absolutely agree with this. Java is not installed on my computer at all, so no matter what new fun-for-the-whole-family malware is released that specifically exploits Java vulnerabilities, it will never infect my computer because I don’t have crappy Java installed…
…and you shouldn’t either. Uninstall that nonsense and do so with a clear conscience.
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OfficeLibre, Eclipse, NetBeans, and LogMeIn all have components in them that require a JRE. While I would very much like to discard Java, it’s not quite practical yet.
You only need Java in LibreOffice if using Base: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/system-requirements/
LogMeIn only uses Java as a fallback if the appropriate IE ActiveX or browser extension is not present when using the web portal. In other words, Java is not required.
Netbeans and Eclipse are both IDEs and home consumer users don’t use that stuff at all.
Also, it is possible just to remove the Java plugins from each browser, rather than uninstall the JRE entirely.
Home consumer users don’t understand “remove the Java plugins from each browser” because they have a hard enough time finding the big blue “e” icon on the desktop just to launch the browser. They do however understand “uninstall from Add/Remove”.
And how about the incessant “you need to update” prompts, with the option to turn those off that doesn’t actually save that you turned it off? Did they ever fix that?
We need Java at the office, but I had to set a GP to set the registry key so that my users aren’t constantly update-nagged (when most of them do not have admin rights to update in the first place…for something they don’t really need!).
Java by default drops in the executable called jusched.exe (Java Update Scheduler) into every Windows install. The only way to get rid of the nag notices is to take it out of the run-on-startup routine. You can do this easily with the CCleaner software. (CCleaner > Tools (left) > Startup (button), look for jusched.exe and double-click to set it to NO).
ActiveX is no stranger to exploits… but I do agree that it is update more frequently and seamlessly by win update service. However, if you do any type of android development, JRE is absolutely critical to android SDK. Granted, development is not consumer level use, but you would be surprised by how many younger user dabble in app development using pre-compiled scripting engines.
I’d love to get rid of java Rich, but unfortunately it is required by my university for online classes. The client we use is based on java when we conduct online meetings. I absolutely HATE it as caused me to get a 0 on a presentation when java decided to cause hidden errors in the application. Hope the school develops an alternative.
That’s truly a shame (on the school’s part, not yours).
Several groups of users at my workplace, which use several different Java-reliant web-apps would disagree with you…
… if they knew what Java was and that their jobs depended on us keeping it working nicely with their crappy web apps. In my experience, at least in the academic world, Java is well-entrenched in things like student record apps, website portals, online-teaching apps, etc, and won’t be disappearing from our multiple thousand machines anytime soon.
I need it installed, as it forms part of the synching process for my mobile phone