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When I challenged Chrome development team about their decision to block every version of the Java Plug-in by default (http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=84001). They answered that Java Plug-in is not widely used anymore. Google is also officially stating this: https://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=1247383&hl=en-US.

I'm aware that Applets as a tool for design purposes (banners, menus, etc) is outdated, and I must admit that it has been a while since I developed something serious that used the Java Plug-in (I had some fun with JavaFX and Web Start draggable applications for learning purposes, but that's pretty much it). Still, Java Plug-in accounts for a important part of my surfing experience (I'm the sad type of grownup still playing games such as Runescape. My bank use a Java Applet for the security keyboard and several sites I often visit uses Applets for things such as file uploading and authentication).

My question here is: Do you guys think that client-side Java web applications are still relevant?

Please disregard Desktop and Server Side applications... We all know how popular Java is (http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html). This question is specifically about Java Plug-in.

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Anecdotal: Yeah, java web applications are rare in the web. I seldom see java web applications. – user May 3 '12 at 4:04

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It is relevant until there is a viable alternative that has widespread cross-platform adoption.

Silverlight and Flash are probably the strongest contenders in that regard, but there still situations where Applets are the only form of plug-in that IT departments will allow because they are theoretically "Zero footprint".

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I haven't seen too many Silverlight apps in a long time. – TheLQ May 28 '11 at 4:18
Flash is already much more widespread than Java plug-ins. Also, I don't know what you mean by "zero footprint" here. – Adam Byrtek May 28 '11 at 13:39
I mean that there is a perception that it doesn't permanently install anything on your machine. And I know flash is more widespread, but it is more limited in capabilities. – JohnFx May 28 '11 at 15:45
One thing I must comment is that I still don't see Flash / Flex as a "do it all" alternative to Java or C. I have some experience developing Flex Applications, and the widespread solution to do persistence and such things is delegating to a server side language through Web Services or AMF. With signed Applets you can not only access your remote database directly, you can also embed a database in your application. – Anthony Accioly May 28 '11 at 20:07

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