Last month, a CNN Money article reported on a feature of Java that could impede use of Mac products, whether for business or personal purposes. According to the author of the article, Jose Pagliery, Apple users have to consider the possible inconvenience of adware when they update Java, and since it's hard to avoid, this represents another reason to choose web based terminal emulator solutions that don't use it.
Pagliery specifically refers to Java's association with the Ask.com toolbar, which it automatically includes unless users are sharp enough to uncheck the option during install. Ignoring this will automatically place Ask as the default search function in the user's browser. It's easy enough to remove, even if users forget to do that. However, the fact that the Ask search option is still packaged with Java raises an interesting question: does this affect performance?
The presence of unwanted or unnecessary software on mobile devices has been a difficult aspect of the tech world for some time. In most settings it's just irritating, but when users also rely on personal phones and computers for work tasks, the accumulative effect of "bloatware" could slow down important functions by adding clutter to the device.
Another person concerned about bloatware is Jack Wallen, who recently wrote about it for TechRepublic and claimed that device manufacturers don't understand that software add-ons are rarely used.
"For some odd reason, they have yet to figure out that their bloatware rarely gets used and does nothing but take up precious space and frustrate users," he said. "There is only one company that can pull off the addition of bloatware on a device–Google. Why? Because their bloatware actually works and works well."
Working around the difficulties of bloatware is easier with a browser emulator program that doesn't require Java and will cut down on the number of extraneous programs running on a device.