After a month-long test run running completely without it, PC Magazine writer Larry Seltzer has come to an interesting conclusion: “Java as a client-side platform is pretty clearly a failure, and all that remains of it is a big fat attack surface on your computer.”
While that may be true, we think there are a few other things to consider before attempting at making your machine a Java-free runtime environment.
Much like abstaining from meat for Lent or going for a year without money, Seltzer took the last several weeks off from using client-side Java and found, like many who go without something, it wasn’t all that integral in the first place. Why’d he do it?
“Java has a less-than-stellar security record. There’s actually quite a bit of Java malware out there, generally relying on patched vulnerabilities, as old versions of Java are common on user systems,” he wrote when he started the experiment last month.
The biggest issue he ran into, it seems, was actually removing Java itself, which appears to install itself in numerous places throughout your system.
Java likes it on your PC and really doesn’t want to let go. Even after you uninstall all the versions listed in your Add/Remove you may find Java components installed in web browsers. Do about:plugins on Firefox or Google Chrome. Do you see Java entries there? I thought so. You may also see plugins from other programs you thought you uninstalled. Do the same for Tools-Manage Add-ons in Internet Explorer. I suppose the uninstallers don’t necessarily bother with these browser components. After you disable them in Firefox and/or Chrome, you can delete these plugins by deleting their program files in C:Program FilesMozilla Firefoxplugins or wherever Firefox is installed.
Seltzer notes that the Wall Street Journal uses it in certain cases and some banking websites he ran into also use it, but otherwise it was pretty much useless. He warns that, before getting rid of Java yourself, “go through your bookmarks and maybe the last week or so of history and look for sites you use that might use Java “.
Beyond websites that still use Java, which are few and far between and have mostly been replaced by Adobe Flash, there are still some apps out there that use Java and the Java Runtime Environment – apps that some of you geeky, business types might be running.
Our favorite non-cloud alternative to Microsoft Office, Open Office, for example, still relies on the JRE to function properly. As does one of the ReadWriteWeb team’s favorite website traffic analysis tools, Woopra.
In batting the idea around, Alex Williams, our enterprise editor, noted that a large number of enterprise solutions still rely on Java. Vmware, for example, is introducing platforms to work with both Salesforce and Google that depend on Java to operate. In general, a lot of companies still use Java internally for custom solutions and eradicating it from your machine could stir up some issues.
Were it not for Open Office and Woopra, we might take the plunge, but those are two programs we certainly don’t want to give up. For now, we’ll just make sure to say “yes” when Java asks us if we want to install the latest update.
