Apple Removes Java from OS 1.7 over Security Concerns

If you are on Lion or Mountain Lion and need Java support, you might have noticed something strange today. Java seems to be missing from Mac systems, thanks to an update from Apple.

The move follows a series of security exploits that opened your computer to hackers through the virtual machine. Most websites, including those stocked by security experts, have already warned that Java should be uninstalled from Mac systems. Apple had also stopped preloading its Java interpreter on new machines a while ago.

This doesn't stop you from using Java, however. If you need Java for work (or Minecraft) you can still download the official Java runtime from Oracle. Apple can't yet stop you from doing that. But you should be aware it might open your computer up to viruses and hackers.

Java has become the primary attack vector on Mac computers. The platform has seen security hole after security hole, and it is almost singlehandedly responsible for every known security problem on Mac. It's little surprise, then, that Apple dropped it. Especially considering that the platform has seen less use over the years, outside of Android. A major security hole took almost a week for Oracle to fix, time enough for the hole to find its way into black market hacking tools and the hands of hackers worldwide.

But it does cause problems. Plenty of corporate software was written in Java, so many offices are going to need tech support to repair machines. Which wouldn't be much of a problem, if people knew the change was coming. But they didn't.

In addition, Safari seems to be left out in the cold. I've gotten reports of Apple businesses switching to Firefox just because of this change.

Ars Tecnica Photo by : Adam Fagen