thats fine, thats very different to blocking java in the entire browser.

I also whitelist java on approved sites in all my browsers.

The whitelisting is for extra control. I'm still very much in favour of blocking vulnerable plug-ins. If anything, it encourages users to update to the latest version if they're presented with the appropriate option.

did you read I did update?

whitelisting is by far the best solution but I suspect its considered "too complex" for the average user so a holding the hand approch with auto blocking was considered better.

At the very least if I developed such a mechanism I would.

(a) not auto block old software until a new version is available
(b) when auto blocking ensure an easy upgrade path is presented to the user that works.
(c) not auto block the new fixed version, oops.

a) would be careless. they're blocking it to protect users.
b) I agree.
c) Indeed. Big Firefox fail. No issues in Chrome.

Edited by Zadeks (Mon 28-Jan-13 20:45:44)

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

(c) not auto block the new fixed version, oops.

The fix in 7u11 is reported to be incomplete and ineffective by the person who found the original issue. There was a lot of debate in Mozilla bugzilla about blocking 7u11, but it was decided that the lowest level of blocking (click to activate with a warning) was appropriate under the circumstances.

If you disagree with the blocking, you can always manually edit the blocklist in your profile and make it read only to prevent further downloads from the Mozilla servers.

I actually think what they did was careless, it assumes.

(a) they always know better than their end users, akin to a parent looking after his/her toddler.
(b) noone is reliant on java for something critical so can do without it.

It took me all of 2 mins to think of something better.

eg. if a blacklisted plugin was blocked all is needed is a prompt to tell the end user its blocked and why (instead of silently making it not work) and then allow the user to overide the block should they need to.

Edited by Chrysalis (Mon 28-Jan-13 23:15:17)

I didnt get a click to activate prompt, it simply wouldnt appear in the plugin list and wasnt useable at all.

any java link simply showed it as not available and there was no prompt to allow for that 7u11 on this machine in my firefox was blocked 100%. if that wasnt their intention then I guess was a bug, but still it lost me a lot of valuable time diagnosing it and getting it to work again.

The read only idea seems viable something I will consider.

Edited by Chrysalis (Mon 28-Jan-13 23:11:38)

a) A lot of the time they do. This is backed up by the fact that a very small percentage of users upgrade to the latest version of Java. The majority of endusers are clueless and need their hand holding. This includes a lot of sysadmins.
b) It's time to ditch Java and replace it with something else, just like they have done with the BT speed test.

The block shouldn't be too easy to override, otherwise, users will just click the most obvious option and the block will become useless.

and it also shouldnt be too hard, as in my case I ended up disabling it.

never take control away from the end user, a big no no in software which more and more devs seem to fail to understand.

remember the end user always has the control to stop using the software.

You're the exception. This is in-place to protect the average joe. Fewer and fewer web apps are using Java, so it's becoming less of an inconvenience. Most of the time it is bundled or required by a game such as Minecraft. It's far easier to overcome a temporary block than it is to clean up a nasty infection.