A DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUEST :
IE finally conforms to "standards" and supports plugin mimetypes as documented in http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/dn423948%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

However, this requires the plugin to register itself in the WIndows registry.

Unfortunately, the Java plugin does not do this, which means plugin detected still requires use of the cumbersome and error prone ActiveXObject method.


JUSTIFICATION :
Microsoft is deprecating official support for plugin detection using ActiveXObject.
Also mimetype detection is cross-browser compatible.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Cross browser plugin detection compatible with Chrome/FIrefox/etc.
ACTUAL -
Java Plugin does not appear in the list of mimetypes.

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Use cumbersome and error prone ActiveXObject just for IE.