Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
Peeps still have Java on their machines? In 2016?
Oracle's fired off an out-of-cycle emergency Java patch to plug a during-installation vulnerability on Windows platforms. Dubbed CVE-2016-0603, the bug is complex, in that an attacker would have to trick a user into visiting a compromised Website before installing Java 6, 7 or 8. However, a successful attack results in a “ …
That would be the Minecraft Windows 10 edition, which is basically the same codebase as MCPE, the pocket edition. It does not have the same functionality as the PC version, and any kind of modding is a non-starter. It's really only of interest to kids who are happy with purely vanilla functionality, and a feature set that lags behind the current 1.8 Java version (and way behind the upcoming 1.9 version). If you have any interest in modding, forget it.
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Windows_10_Edition
Yes, it *is* the same as MCPE. That "minecraft.net" beta you linked to is the beta of the http://minecraft.net/ website. You're confusing domain names and software platforms.
There's the Java version of Minecraft which runs on Windows/Mac/Linux, and there's C++ Windows 10 edition which runs on Windows and (I think) Mac, and is an adaptation of MCPE: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Windows_10_Edition. And that is all.
Fine, it's not the same code line for line, but the gameplay is identical to MCPE, and it's multiplayer compatible with MCPE, and not the Java version. It's MCPE on a (Windows-only) PC for all intents and purposes.
My point, though, was in reply to your original statement of "no need for Java anymore". That simply isn't true for anyone in the very sizeable modding community that exists today, regardless of whether MS discontinue it or not. Minecraft Win10/MCPE has no modding support at all, and if it ever does get modding support, you can bet that it will be 1) a locked-down and limited API, completely incompatible with Forge, Bukkit, Sponge or any existing API, and 2) probably encourage paid-for mods via an app-store arrangement. In other words, crap. Oh yeah, and no Linux support, because, you know, this is MS we're talking about.
So yeah, there's still very much a need for Java, thanks.
"but the gameplay is identical to MCPE, and it's multiplayer compatible with MCPE, and not the Java version."
Because they have had to start from scratch porting it to better performing and more modern architecture. They are as it states building on this going forwards. I would expect that development will eventually cease on the Java version.
"Oh yeah, and no Linux support"
I doubt MS care too much about ~ 1% of PCs.
"I doubt MS care too much about ~ 1% of PCs."
Perhaps, but you're conveniently ignoring server numbers where Windows is in the small minority: http://mcstats.org/global/#Operating+System
And as you also continue to conveniently ignore, Win10/MCPE version is an irrelevance to the modding community, so even if MS/Mojang cease Java development, it won't die anytime soon. Mods add more to the game every day than the official game gets in a year and the current 1.8 platform has the potential to go for many years.
So, once again: the Java Minecraft version isn't going away anytime soon. Your precious MCPE game is fun for young kids and MS research projects (Hololens integration admittedly has a cool factor), but that's about it. Doesn't matter how well it performs or how modern its architecture is; if the game is limited to Minecraft vanilla or ends up with a crappy locked-down modding API, it has nothing on a fully moddable Java platform.
"I doubt MS care too much about ~ 1% of PCs."
Depends where you get your stats; some appear to put Linux at over double that: http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php. In fact over a quarter of the number of machines running Windows 10. Considering it's not pre-loaded in shops or forced upon existing Windows users, that's a pretty impressive feat.
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In case you're wondering where all the downvotes came from: the MS port is of the pocket edition, *not* the PC/Java game, and it's neither compatible with nor a replacement for the Java version.
So yes, the Minecraft that everyone runs on their PC today still very much demands Java, and so will the upcoming 1.9 release.
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The Spanish Tax Office (La Hacienda) enforces the use of Java to create and submit their tax forms online - and the 'pure' Oracle version at that - OpenJDK won't do. A new download needed for each year as the forms change. The user interface is horrible. It's buggy - but less buggy than a couple of years ago. On Linux it has to be installed via a clumsy shell script run as root. And I hate to think what the security quality is in the background. But since there's a minimum €75 fine for every missing or late tax form...
Java was lovely... 15 years ago. Now it is a constant embarrassment.
Like a few here, I only have Java on my computer because I have to for certain applications. It is not the easiest of tools to manage and I would be more than happy to be done with it. Not having the constant oops-another-security-hole-please-upgrade nags would be good for a start.
It was never lovely. It was slow to use. Applets took ages to run and launching the JRE took its toll in Y2K iron (Pentium 2 with 256MB or some such).
Like today, compatibility wasn't guaranteed between versions. I have some obsolete hardware that refuse to work with any recent v6-7-8 Java versions. Oh, and I know a few companies that had a PBX/SIP gateway (Boscom) that could ONLY be configured with MS Java...!
Java - the idea is great but for most uses the same applet could have been compiled to native binaries that would have worked faster, better.
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Thanks for the unformed commentary again on a Java related story. What world do you guys inhabit? Now let's see..
"vulnerability on Windows platforms"
Yes, windows.
"an attacker would have to trick a user into visiting a compromised Website before installing Java 6, 7 or 8"
Um.. ok
"Getting an attack to work would be very difficult"
oh right...
"people with an existing clean install of Java ... don't have to worry"
Ah.
And finally:
"Peeps still have Java on their machines? In 2016?"
Java the most used software development language in the world for 15 years and counting...
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
But I'm sure you know better!
Java the most used software development language in the world for 15 years and counting...
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
This is the same crowd that's been saying Go hasn't seen any adoption either.
Tiobe isn't exactly a source of reliable information.
Yep Java the concept was decent but SUN's absolute garbage implementation continued up to today really limited it's use on the desktop. Microsoft did a good job of showing how to do a managed language environment but then came to the conclusion that the concept was not fit for purpose for developing its own products (a few token examples aside which tended to be flaky and slow).
From the Oracle, it was thus spoken: "...should discard these old downloads and replace them with 6u113, 7u97 or 8u73 or later”. How else would one get a later version since 8u73 (Windows) is the latest? Or is there another version coming out in the next several hours/day?
They have fixed something in the installer that prevents somebody from injecting code into the binary that gets run when the installer is started. Great!
But anybody can design an installer that looks like the Oracle Java installer, and installs teamviewer or you name it .... you can do that to any software downloaded from the interwebs ... In Window cleaner and Sufarce expert land, this is common practice, the main vector of ad&malware.