Name: gsC80088 Date: 02/25/99


The Java Plugin appears to ignore version specifications, so that
even if the version of the plugin installed on a client machine
does not match that specified in the HTML the currently installed
version is used to execute the applet.

This severely limits the usability of the plugin because of
differences between JVMs. It's especially significant for the
1.1 vs 1.2 versions because of the substantial changes in the
implementations - if a sophisticated applet has been developed
for JDK 1.1 there's a fair chance it won't work properly on JDK
1.2 without modifications, and if it's been developed for JDK 1.2
it likely uses features not included in JDK 1.1.

The plugin provides a great solution to many of the problems of
deploying web-based Java applications in an intranet environment.
Without the ability to distinguish between multiple versions of
the plugin, though, it's usefulness is limited to environments
where the developers have complete control over the user systems.
(Review ID: 54478)
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