'Java Web Start Is Dead. Long Live Java Web Start!' (openwebstart.com) 62
An anonymous reader reminded us about the open source reimplementation of Java Web Start, a framework originally developed by Sun Microsystems that allowed users to more easily run Java applications in an applet-like sandbox using a web browser.
From OpenWebStart.com: Java Web Start (JWS) was deprecated in Java 9, and starting with Java 11, Oracle removed JWS from their JDK distributions. This means that clients that have the latest version of Java installed can no longer use JWS-based applications. And since public support of Java 8 has ended in Q2/2019, companies no longer get any updates and security fixes for Java Web Start.
This is why we decided to create OpenWebStart, an open source reimplementation of the Java Web Start technology. Our replacement will provide the most commonly used features of Java Web Start and the JNLP standard, so that your customers can continue using applications based on Java Web Start and JNLP without any change.
Red Hat is apparently involved in its parent project, IcedTea-Web, which it distributes as part of their Windows OpenJDK distribution.
From OpenWebStart.com: Java Web Start (JWS) was deprecated in Java 9, and starting with Java 11, Oracle removed JWS from their JDK distributions. This means that clients that have the latest version of Java installed can no longer use JWS-based applications. And since public support of Java 8 has ended in Q2/2019, companies no longer get any updates and security fixes for Java Web Start.
This is why we decided to create OpenWebStart, an open source reimplementation of the Java Web Start technology. Our replacement will provide the most commonly used features of Java Web Start and the JNLP standard, so that your customers can continue using applications based on Java Web Start and JNLP without any change.
Red Hat is apparently involved in its parent project, IcedTea-Web, which it distributes as part of their Windows OpenJDK distribution.
Re:The sooner Java dies the better (Score:4, Insightful)
hmm, people/companies should move to openjdk and let Oracle's influence on Java die
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It does make me feel better, as it is GPLv2 licensed and even version 7 still gets security patches without the need to pay Oracle.
Oracle doesn't have full control over this.
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as I am not a Java expert, certainly not for client side stuff, I can' t tell. But your problem will most likely be with the browser, the browsers stopped supporting applets.
Other than that, it would simply be a matter of installing OpenJDK as it has the JVM to run the Java code.
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as I am not a Java expert, certainly not for client side stuff, I can' t tell. But your problem will most likely be with the browser, the browsers stopped supporting applets.
And for a good reason: JavaScript is better in every way.
Java in the browser should be killed with fire. There's no reason to tolerate it or any of the problems it causes.
PS: Internet explorer 6.0 is dead, we can move on.
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You're probably right, but that doesn't help the AC with XP and an old browser. Not everyone is up for to reverse engineer vendor crap and rebuild it in Javascript.
Perhaps (s)he could try the Pale Moon browser [palemoon.org] with OpenJDK. Pale Moon states it still supports npapi and will keep supporting it. There are some OpenJDK 1.6 around. Maybe that does the trick. At least that could help get a recent browser...
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Replying to myself... Out of curiousity I managed to get Pale Moon and OpenJDK 7 running under Ubuntu. At least this test site [w3.org] works. Pale Moon [palemoon.org], binaries from Azul [azul.com]. Had to disable security settings though as Pale Moon saw Java version 7 as outdated.
Java's motto (Score:1, Offtopic)
Write once, run maybe.
All those appliances like firewalls, SAN, switches relying on java applets are now becoming increasingly hard to use; gotta install an old (and probably insecure) browser. Java has become the ActiveX of the 2010's.
Why, if there already is IcedTea... (Score:5, Interesting)
... which already includes an open source version of Java Web Start named NetX? In my vicinity, the tests some people have already run for replacing Web Start with IcedTea/NetX do look good, or so I hear.
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That said, IcedTea was already initiated by Red Hat, so I wonder what they want to accomplish with Open Web Start, if it is true that they're behind it?
The new Cobol (Score:2)
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Don’t let it fester into the 2020s, just upgrade it now along with all the other IE only junk. Unfortunatly the death of Windows 7 without a suitable replacement means that legacy code will live on in enterprises.
Microsoft should open source Win7 so it could be fixed, cleaned, and tightened.
I ran Win7 for a looooong time before I switched to Linux Mint full time, and I liked it a lot. It had pretty much everything I needed and not much that I didn't.
Of course Microsoft will never open source it, but imagine what it could be turned into if if people were allowed to work on it and make improvements, fix bugs, add security more modern features, etc etc.
JWS is good technology (Score:5, Insightful)
Good news that there will be open source support. This is an important technology that has no replacement for things that can't "just run" in a browser. The only alternative is to go back to manually distributing and installing applications which is idiotic.
For now, we'll just go without updates.
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Indeed. No idea why this got modded down. Surely not by professionals.
Re:JWS is good technology (Score:5, Informative)
There's always WebASM.
Don't mistake Web Start for Java Applets – Web Start has nothing to do with the browser, except that you can get Web Start links on a web page, too. It's for starting and, if it is the first time or if there are updates, downloading an application beforehand over the web, with a secure protocol by name of JNLP. The application itself usually is a full-fledged desktop app.
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Things can should run on the browser with HTML 5 and css3.1. This ensures maximal compability with mobile devices and is more secure. Let Java die already. Oracle always has problems.
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The only alternative is to go back to manually distributing and installing applications which is idiotic.
Why is it idiotic? Obviously we're only talking about desktop apps here, but manually distributing and installing apps is more popular now than ever before.
Yes, it is, but so what? Popular never meant 'not idiotic', and in any case it's only popular because Windows is still the major desktop OS, and that surely doesn't mean it's not idiotic, either. For a developer, Web Start is the one least error-prone option (doesn't mean that there won't be errors at all, but still) to distribute their apps and updates and making sure no-one will run outdated versions without following every user around. That may not be necessary for a lot of garden-variety apps, but for c
Sounds like an abortion. (Score:2)
Nobody wants to be in the position of getting it but ultimately some will. Some will protest that it's an affront to both God and mankind while others will stand up for right to do so anyway. It's disgusting and horrible but alas, there is use in it and therefore it exists. Java Web Start: still legal (supreme court decision pending). ;)
Does it really matter? (Score:1)
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Java Webstart does not run the software in the browser.
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.
There are other ways, some quite new, for people with bad intent to download programs onto my PC via a browser and then run the malicious programs, so java web start isn't really needed anymore.
Better?
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Say you describe some problem you're having, and someone suggests a program for you to use to solve this problem. What steps do you take to determine whether the authors of this program are "people with bad intent"?
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No, not better.
Java Webstart requires you to click on a link to download and start the program you downloaded. What that has to do with bad intent is beyond me. How actually are you installing software in your comouter?
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How actually are you installing software in your comouter?
One way is through the free operating system distribution's official repository, such as the repositories listed in /etc/apt/sources.list. Another is to clone the repository and compile it from source, as it's presumably less common to attempt to conceal underhanded code in source code than in an executable.
I dunno (Score:2)
Even if you ignore the long term security track record of web-based java, there’s also web java’s legendary speed.
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I'd bet popular JVMs are still a lot faster than, say, running an ARM executable in an emulator on an x86-64 CPU or running an x86-64 executable in an emulator on an ARM CPU.
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Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
such a tease (Score:2)
I tried to use this once. It was impossible to find any documentation on how to use it, even with concerted Googling.