Local file access change with new Java update

[Ulrich Kortenkamp]

Hi,

Am 08.07.2013 um 22:13 schrieb Joe McGlynn <joe.mcglynn at oracle.com>:

> We can't discuss those details, sorry.  

For what reasons? Political? Or is this security by obscurity?

> Fundamentally applets aren't designed for running from the local filesystem.

Hold on. Applets are designed by developers, not by Oracle. You can ask us not to design applets running on local file systems, but as such your statement makes as much sense as a statement like 'HTML pages must be served by a web server and must not be viewed locally.'

I kept quiet about this getCodeBase() change here although it broke our applets and is violating what has been – and still is – written in the official documentation. But your ignorant reply just makes me angry and sad.

WE USED getCodeBase() FOR 17 YEARS.

And then someone decides to kill it. In a minor release. Without being able to discuss details. Great.

I am tired of all the 'Java on the desktop is dead' talk. I am tired of Sun/Oracle replacing features that need bug fixes with features that just don't work (here: Swing with JavaFX). Just in case you wonder: yes, Java in the browser is dead, because you kill it. Constantly. 

Ever wondered why Java did not find its way into mobile browsers? Not even on Android? Because you kill it.

It's not a matter of speed or whatever. Java still beats JavaScript. We had working Java 2 VMs on mobile devices back in 2003. That's ten years ago. But still, you manage to fail. You kill it. 

Don't tell me what Java can do or cannot do. Just try not to break things again and again. 

Please accept my apologies for this rant. Maybe this is acceptable once, given how long I am working with Java on OS X. I feel old now.

Thanks, Ulli

PS: Of course I followed the tradition of 'write once, fix everywhere' and made our applets work locally again, by using getDocumentBase() and not accessing the local file system but embedding all resources in a param tag for the applet. This will work until param tags are considered a security risk. 

PPS: Please replace 'applet' by RIA everywhere above. Or whatever they are called today.