From: Alex Strasheim <cp@proust.suba.com>
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:10:19 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Calling other code in Java applications and applets
In-Reply-To: <3185E5B6.3EE8@netscape.com>
Message-ID: <199604301512.KAA05052@proust.suba.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


>   Our Navigator 3.0 release will allow java and javascript to call into
> plugins.  Since plugins are native code, you will be able to freely mix
> C and Java.  Of course you will have to get the user to install your
> plugin on their disk.  

That's the problem, installing the plugin.

I (and some others, I think) was hoping that it would be possible to build
powerful crypto applets and put them up on web pages.  That way everyone 
with a java enabled copy of Netscape could use a remailer or send crypted 
mail without having to download, install, and configure software.

If people have to download and install a plugin to use a java mixmaster
applet, why not just download and install a native mixmaster client?

Of course there are other reasons to use java -- platform independence,
for example.  But it's the user's ability to download and run applets just
by jumping to a web page that has everyone excited.  With that gone (for 
crypto), java loses a lot of its lustre (again, for crypto work).