Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Java and Flash

Lessons Learned :

Flash - if you are running a 64-bit OS, you need to install the 64-bit flash clients for both MSIE and non-MSIE browsers. The 64-bit versions will also support 32-bit apps.

Java - the 64-bit java is not widely supported and may cause certain apps to fail. The 7.x version recently released is somewhat unstable, we are staying with 6.29 for now, and hope they continue to provide updates for it until they get 7.x working correctly and a bit more backwards compatible.

MSIE - in a 64-bit OS, the 64-bit MSIE will run by default. This matters in that if you do not install the 64-bit Flash, as noted above, your flash apps will work in FireFox (32-bit) but not in MSIE.


So this all boils down to a realization that flash and java are merely hacks that we have grown accustomed to. Hopefully both will fall by the wayside and be replaced by better tools soon.