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Japanese Government Requires Java and Internet Explorer 11 X86
Long time reader AmiMoJo writes: Japan has introduced "My Number", a social security number assigned to citizens and used to access government services. Unfortunately, the My Number management web portal requires the Java plug-in. Because this plug-in is deprecated in many browsers, only Internet Explorer 11 (32 bit) and Safari on Mac are supported. The explanation (translated) given for this is that in order to access My Number contactless card readers Java is the only option. Some browsers support IC card access but it seems that it is not mature enough to be viable.
There is nothing more indicative of mediocrity than the presence of the Microsoft-popularized* qualifier "My"
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* ... or was it popularized by Perl????
The link is broken it leads to google translate, but it's just an empty translate page.
They have a lot of paper and are pretty useless with computers. Usually the opposite from what you see in the news about Japan. They aren't that of an advanced nation if you look at the common man. So this shouldn't be a surprise. It's good that they're trying to automate some stuff but it will take some time and they will make some mistakes. Even dumb mistakes like this one.
Yawn, IE11 defaults to 32 bit anyway. You get both 32bit and 64bit installs on windows. And many times 64 bit version has many issues especially with compatibility. In fact, many enterprises disable the 64 bit IE entirely.
Kinda like how MS themselves recommend NOT using 64 bit office, but only 32 bit office installs, because it's full of issues that MS doesn't bother to fix.
The x86 IE 11 requirement is a non story.
The java requirement on the other hand...
waterfox 64 bit works with java!
Now supermicro can we get a non java ipmi?
This is quote normal here in Spain, too. Everybody who needs access to government web sites is forced to use Java for their card reader so they can digitally sign stuff.
(all accountants, etc., are required to do this)
No sig today...
The point may have been but the execution was anything but! Every version on evey platform have changes... Some of these were deal breakers. Most enterprises have different virtual desktops for management of Network devices, storage devices and virtual servers because they all require specific and different (and mutually exclusive) versions of java!
NPAPI is the other option, but that puts you in the exact same boat as Java (though IMHO is still better).
Actually, NPAPI is the common point of failure, because Java in the browser _is_ NPAPI, and the deprecation of it is the reason why the Java plug-in is being discontinued, period.
Whoever gave the contract to the maker of the contactless card reader which only has a Java driver is an idiot and should be fired.
South Korea mandated the use of an ActiveX control for online payments in the 1990s, which has locked companies and banks there into a deprecated and dangerous technology. Only in the last couple of years has the government there started the process of getting rid of the damn POS system.
Someone please tell the Japanese government that what they are doing is a REALLY bad idea.
A lot of places in Asia seem to be in the prehistoric age when it comes to Internet tech.
Korea has similar issues with a bunch of banking and government sites. I think just in the last year many have fixed it, but my wife has had a f*** of a time because many of those sites required IE6 and ActiveX (for their "security" plugins, ironically). If you're in Korea it's a bit less of an issue because you can just drop by the bank or gov't agency, but it's especially a pain for anyone overseas.
I worked for years as a contractor developing software for government agencies, and in my experience they're often running software that is years out-of-date. This is a result of government budgets operating in a cash rather than accrual mentality -- i.e. that a penny saved is a penny earned. Taken to the extreme "a penny saved is a penny earned" is false.
Can you make do with a version of software that's EOL? Sure, but it'll cause problems. How can we solve those problems? Well, throw staff time at them. Would that be new hires? No, they're people whose salaries we're already paying. So the view you can minimize the immediate cash outlay by running obsolete software. This would not be reckoned by a private enterprise as a legitimate cost savings, but that's why the IT guys in government have to contend with.
So you have to look at government platform decisions like they were being made 10 years ago. Then allow for the development time for the project and this is how the calculation goes: 2017,minus three years for project development time, minus ten years for government lag time, and this is like a corporate in-house developer choosing applets as a platform in 2004.
Government IT guys run the gamut from incompetent to high competent, just like their private sector counterparts. But if you were to give them a letter grade (ABCDF) you have to deduct one letter grade from their ability to perform to account for the irrational financial incentives they have to deal with.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
browser plugin deprecation is a non-issue.
just use java web start instead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Web_Start
all you have to do is write a tiny .jnlp file and link to.
done.
But, how do I run Internet Explorer on my Windows XP machine?
It will come only two years after the year of BTRON on the desktop, I'm sure.
Ezekiel 23:20
Oh, you'd be surprised. I've worked many places that consider employee time to be "free". We can buy a library that will solve problem X or just build it ourselves. The library costs money, but building it ourselves is free! After all, we're paying our programmers anyway!
You tell me. The problems I had to make the electronic DNI work (and I didn't use it too much). Well now at least the driver is included in Windows (only for IE/Edge and Chrome though).
Oh, you'd be surprised. I've worked many places that consider employee time to be "free". We can buy a library that will solve problem X or just build it ourselves. The library costs money, but building it ourselves is free! After all, we're paying our programmers anyway!
That's a more complicated question, because it's not just about staff time spending vs. license fees. When you build dependencies on a closed source library into your work that's an act of faith in the vendor's future support policies. Once I had a vendor who raised the distribution fees on downstream licensees from $5/seat to $1000/seat. Oh, and don't forget the vendors who simply abandon products that aren't making money and leave their customers dangling.
Even if you don't buy into the ideology of Free/Libre software, the risk of being tied to a vendor's future goodwill is a sufficient reason never to buy proprietary libraries. If you do buy a proprietary library you need to protect yourself both contractually (if possible) and architecturally.
Now as for using "free" staff time, at the risk of sounding like I'm contradicting myself, intelligent and creative use of slack developer time is one of the most important things you can do for your long-term success. Far from treating slack time as "free", however, I see it as treating slack time as too valuable to squander. You should set aside time to do things purely for extending the capabilities of the team. That might involve reinventing the wheel, if you have good reason to believe you can make a better one.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
South Korea mandated the use of an ActiveX control for online payments in the 1990s, [...]
No, they mandated a certain level of crypto, which (in 1999) was only possible via a browser plug-in:
In fact, there were two versions of SSL: U.S. edition and international edition. The U.S. edition supported 128-bit secret key whereas the international edition supported 40-bit secret key. The problem is that 40-bit secret key is too weak to use for message encryption.
South Korea needed a better encryption than what the international edition supported, so Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) developed 128-bit block cipher called SEED in 1999. The development was necessary since there was a proliferation of personal computers and the internet network during that time all over South Korea. KISA chose ActiveX control to use their secure cipher on Internet Explorer, which was used by the most of internet users in Korea.
* https://medium.com/@yunkee_lee/why-has-south-korea-been-stuck-with-activex-44c773dbf54
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEED
It reached a critical mass and so people were stuck with it. Though the regulations weren't officially lifted until a few years ago (once software crypto ITAR was relaxed).
Mostly because there have been so many security holes found in java plugins that no other browsers even support it any more. Even Oracle doesn't think it's a good idea these days. Fee free to contemplate the irony of using the java plugin for a security application.
If the problem are the modern browsers that disabled NPAPI plugins then you can use Palemoon, even the x64 build still runs Java.
So are card readers (that I have seen on old clunky keyboards) sold as part of PC OEM configuration e.g. CPU-Screen-mouse-keyboard in Spain? Or you just add this to your PC like an after market accessory? Please pardon my ignorance
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Or not, as the case may be....
The point of Java is to be cross platform, so I don't understand why it would be limited to IE11 or any browser.
Java was developed by Sun, which was later bought out by Oracle. It turns out Oracle has their own special set of priorities and Java plugin bug fixes was not one of them.
Also, the "point of Java is to be cross platform" thing was just an early PR thing. The point of Java (in practice) was to take C++, remove the "C" and cover any remaining sharp corners with padding.
The normal is to buy the card reader apart (the computer I use at work has a card reader Incorporated in the keyboard though but I don't see them in other places.)
Thank you for the response. =)
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
When your expected deployment is measurable in millions, vendors become keenly interested in meeting YOUR requirements.