Now Oracle is doing the same, somewhat. Of course, it isn't dropping the ball on Java entirely but it is announcing the inevitable and probably demise of the Java web browser plugin.

Oracle plans to deprecate the Java browser plugin in JDK 9. This technology will be removed from the Oracle JDK and JRE in a future Java SE release.

Oracle will retire the Java browser plug-in, frequently the target of Web-based exploits, about a year from now. Remnants, however, will likely linger long after that. “Oracle plans to deprecate ...

Oracle has announced plans to kill off Java browser plugins - but only after it releases Java Development Kit (JDK) 9. The company announced the shift in a Java Platform Group blog post, which ...

Good news: Oracle says the next major version of its Java software will no longer plug directly into the user’s Web browser. This long overdue step should cut down dramatically on the number of ...

Oracle said supporting Java in browsers was only doable as long as browser vendors were committed to supporting standards-based plug-ins. But now they are moving away from plug-ins, and some are ...

And it is the browser -- or rather, browser plugins, which run applets -- that is the focus of Oracle's security efforts, Smith said. "The area of concern is the plugin -- so that's applets," he said.