Java update and Flash not working

[JLTD]

Hoping for some assistance from knowledgeable folks here. Got the newest version of Java installed. Flash is up to date with both the old and the new formats (pardon my weak knowledge) available.

After the Java update, a couple of sites I go to won't display Flash content. No problems before the Java update.

I've read that Java support or capability or something is being reduced somehow but don't know the details.

Any suggestions and insight are welcome, this is on a macbook air but I understand that windows machines are also affected. Chromebook apparently is not.

Thanks in advance-- at this point I am considering removing Java then installing the earlier version.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Running Windows systems since 1998. I uninstalled Java nearly five years ago.
BTW... I have Adobe Flashplayer disabled and Adobe Reader long-gone also.

Hopefully a couple Windows computer geeks here can help you. Give them a few more hours this still-early day.

 

[spackard]

WRT Java, starting in 2019 Oracle will charge businesses a fee to use it on a PC. It's also written about in the EULA when you upgrade.
I have no idea how much this will dissuade people from writing software using it, but I'd guess it will.

Flash has been a four letter word for far longer; people are actively replacing it with HTML5 content.
Browsers block flash content. Try googling for "browsers block flash content".

Now, you said you can't run some flash content, on some websites, after the latest Java update. Maybe Java is not running the site, blocking the flash content. Find your "configure Java" (I don't use a Mac), click on Security, and make sure both Java is enabled to run
in the browser and your website(s) are listed in the exception list.

 

[JLTD]

Thanks for the input. Had to specifically tell the browser to use java.

Triple, what do you use if you need to view Flash content?

spackard does the HTML5 change mean that older sites will mo longer be usable, unless they change to that format?

 

[spackard]

About HTML5, I'm finding it difficult to use older sites/software with newer browsers.
Flash, and content that's not secured over a properly-secured https connection, are the most problematic.
As the browser updates march forward the old content is in danger of not working.
This is a problem for me because I use utilities on old, air-gapped hosts, that is probably not under maintenance.
I have to patch what I can, and turn up security, but stuff may break because of that.

On the 'net, a rather obscure site, Virtual Railfan, has all their paid content in Flash. I would pay for a subscription, but I don't want to bother until they abandon Flash.

 

[JLTD]

So what's the solution then, to keep an older site functioning? Forgive my ignorance, just wondering what would have to be done by the site owner to update to the new format.

 

[spackard]

I really don't know; I'm living through the problem.
For very old HTML content, a command-line based browser called lynx may be useful to get what I need.

The following is my own opinion only.
I think it's a substantial amount of work (say, 2 years worth) for someone to convert flash-based content to html5.
At least, when the effort started to happen it also seemed that almost all advancements in web technology just stopped for about 2 years.
There's certainly been other things web developers have had to deal with:
- seems the solution to internationalization is 'icons for everything'. I hate the look.
- text reflow has been a large legacy problem. Every screen size is different nowadays. As far as I know, html5 is supposed to solve that.
Seems internal websites care about working with IE on Windows only.
I work with Unix and Linux. Even external support sites I have to use are heavily biased towards IE on Windows (RedHat support, Oracle support). I have IE, Firefox, and Chrome, and one of those 3 can usually render a site okay, but in an air-gapped area I'll only have an old version of Firefox or lynx. The equipment web servers either work only with IE8 on Windows, some work with Java.

I would think the smaller, external websites aren't going to be able to keep up.

The invisible problem I really have is securing LDAP. Whoever writes security requirements treat LDAP queries as if they need to be encrypted with the highest algorithms, key lengths, and other goodies I don't know the specifics of, to the best of a specific OS.
Problem is I work in a heterogeneous environment; the requirements writers don't give a hoot about interoperability. Windows admins only know about clicking boxes; they don't know or understand the underlying algorithms, key lengths, and other goodies. Unix and Linux doesn't work unless one understands the underlying stuff, and it certainly is a challenge to find underlying bits that can be used across platforms.

I also have to find tools that can test each underlying bit, and I have to be able to tell a good from a bad.
I'll only have what comes with the OS to work with.
I'll stop now as this post already looks pretty long.

 

[JLTD]

Thanks for all that; much was over my head but I get what you're saying.