These days, Java applets are primarily used to install malware on Windows machines, but they may also be used for interactive features in web applications that HTML alone cannot provide. This was deprecated in 10.4, however. Since then, Java has largely been supported primarily for web-based Java applets. In the early days of Mac OS X, Java was treated as an equal alternative to Objective-C for application development with a Cocoa-Java bridge. I asked Mac security guru Dino Dai Zovi for his response to the news that Oracle Sun's Java software may be removed from future versions. Apple has had problems in the past with keeping up to date with both Flash Player and Java security patches. The decision to remove Flash Player and Java from the Mac operating system is most likely driven by security considerations. Daring Fireball's John Gruber brings us news that Apple will ship all new Mac OS X machines without Adobe Flash Player pre-installed.Īpple has already started shipping the new MacBook Air models without the Flash Player installed and Gruber reports the company plans to nuke the software from all new machines.This follows an announcement that the Apple-produced Java runtime will not be maintained may also be removed from future versions of Mac OS X.
