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Applets and JDK version
Posted:
Dec 20, 2008 1:11 PM
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Hi folks.
My boss insists in keeping our code 100% JDK 1.1 compatible because he thinks there's still many browsers out there using it.
Is there any kind of study or statistics about this matter?
I understand my boss' view, but being limited to 1.1 sucks.
Maybe I could convince him to change this policy with something to back me up, or maybe he is right and there's something that proves his point.
Of course I'd love to use a newer JDK, but if he's right, I would feel better about being stuck with 1.1 if I had some numbers to prove it.
Thanks.
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Re: Applets and JDK version
Posted:
Dec 21, 2008 12:44 AM
in response to: flsobral
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What I have done in the past is write a small applet which contacts your server and tells you the version of java it is using.
The applet can be a small transparent (the same colour as you background) program which just sits on your page.
This way you can collect the stats on what percentage of your actual users use which version.
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Re: Applets and JDK version
Posted:
Dec 22, 2008 6:45 AM
in response to: flsobral
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Your boss is wrong. Here is the proof: http://forums.java.net/jive/thread.jspa?threadID=53140&tstart=15
You can either accept the statistics which have already been posted or install the script on your own site and collect statistics specific to your own users. Please post your findings back on that discussion thread as I'm curious to find out what kind of values you get.
Thanks,
Gili
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Re: Applets and JDK version
Posted:
Dec 22, 2008 8:12 AM
in response to: flsobral
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I feel your pain. I recently worked as a consultant for a company where Java 1.1 was enforced even though it was no longer supported by Microsoft. It was nasty! So much time had to be dedicated to ensuring things worked, and much of it never did. That was supposedly justified by a similar excuse, but it lead to an awful user and developer experience.
Fortunately my current client is happy to embrace new[er] tech and I'm a much happier developer.
I know a number of the guys who still work there read these forums and I hear they no longer have this restriction, so kudos! ;o)
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Re: Applets and JDK version
Posted:
Dec 25, 2008 7:49 AM
in response to: flsobral
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He may be right, he may be wrong.
Without knowing more context it's impossible to know one way or the other.
All Java plugins support it, so from that point of view it's a safe choice and can't be argued with.
In some problem domains many may not support something newer, but that would depend heavily on context (third world countries maybe, where older computers with old software are more common).
Or he wants to make absolutely certain that every single computer that ever finds his site can run it, in which case he shouldn't use Java at all as the number of computers without a JRE is higher than the number that has a JRE but doesn't have one newer than 1.1.
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