Do you install Java 7 or 8?

I still see Java Runtime Environment 7 being updated. Why would one want to install the older Java? Maybe there's something I don't know....

 

Probably some software requires a particular version of Java. Just like MS Visual C++. I have quite a few of them - 2005, 2008, 2010, etc.

 

so is it better to install Java 7 and uninstall 8?

 

If everything works fine with 8 then leave it. Don't repair what isn't broken.

 

No, I am not aware of any good reason to stay with 7. If you have to ask, chances are you have no reason to stay with 7, either.

 

Also, check whether you still need Java or not. I remember that when I ditched the only program (can't remember what it was) that needed Java years ago, I flushed it from my computer entirely.

Anyways Pirx has the right idea here, keep to the latest version and keep it updated. Java is enough of a security risk as it is.

 

Same here. I tend to stay away from programs which require Java.
I did use a few back in the day, unfortunately it was mandatory, but once I had no more use for them I uninstalled Java asap!

 

Well in the DELL Driver installer list, it is mentioned as a pre-requestie to have Java installed, maybe one of the utilities of the drivers requires it, but they don't say Java 7 or Java 8 that's why I asked for your professional opinion

 

Want my professional opinion - uninstall Dell Driver Installer and install drivers yourself. That way you will get rid of even more useless crap.

 

oh there is no Dell Driver installer bro, each driver is its own EXE. What I meant was, on the DELL support site, they advice you to install drivers, then Adobe AIR and Java

 

Oh, in that case, you don't need those. That's just advice, not requirement. I can advice you to install a lot of stuff, but that doesn't mean you actually need it.

P.S.: bro? Seriously, are you like 12 or something?

 

Ok d00d better now?

 

If you would could spell it right

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It's always a gradual transition between difference versions of Java. Version 8 came out Oct. 2014 but the cutoff point for automatic updates was only a couple days ago. Java 7 will still be updated until April 2015 but since two days ago, if you run an update check on Java 7, it will suggest you download Java 8. That's what I did and it conveniently uninstalled the old versions of Java 7 32-bit & 64-bit at the same time.

BTW a nice thing I've noticed about Java 8 is that the 64-bit version now has automatic updates enabled through the control panel. 64-bit Java 7 didn't even allow checking for updates, you had to go to the Java website to check and download the installer manually. I'm on 64-bit Chrome and hadn't even realized my Java 7 was extremely outdated until I tried to run a Java app and it wouldn't continue unless I updated.

 

True I've always noticed this bug, the auto updater would only update the x86 version and not the x64. glad it works on v8 now although I don't install Java x64 anymore since my browser is Firefox FTW

 

Not a bug. Working as intended according to Java website but glad it's been changed now.

 

For a home user I would go with the newest, you shouldnt have any issues.

For Enterprise, I find all the time vendor software/products that are not updated to work with new versions and your forced to stay with older versions for compatibility.

What really sucks is when you get stuck and one group of people is using a product for work that wont work with the new version, and then another group of users has another product that just phased out support for the old version and requires the new one. So your constantly battling java versions between various computer setups.

 

Fixed it for you...

 

Fixed it for you...

 

I just updated to Java 8u31 and well I like to at least keep my java and flashplayer plugins up to date that's a fairly simple decision to make. I do uninstall older java version before doing the update though. I usually download the offline installer so I can install and not have unexpected web install issues. And I do use both vesion x86 and x64 since my O/S is Windows 7x64.

 

I lost my post due to automatic logout mad , so a quick summary:

- For the home user, ViciousXUSMC is right, there's little reason. Java is actually very good at backwards compatibility, so situations that would require an older version are few and far between.
- For the corporate user, where any small difference might have a big impact, the old version still being supported allows testing time before moving to the new version. For Java 6 -> Java 7, we did find one issue at my company where technically our code didn't follow the Java API requirements for a comparator function, but in Java 6 it was OK with our code. Java 7 was stricter in enforcing the API, so our code didn't work. It was our fault for not following the API requirements, but since we caught it in new-version testing, it was not a significant issue. If the old version's support ended right away, there wouldn't be this testing window. For Java 7 -> 8, we're still testing, but haven't found any issues so far. But having another couple months of support means we don't have to rush an upgrade.
- For an individual developer, having old versions can be useful for testing backwards compatibility as well. For example, you may wish to support Java 7 since Java 8 not officially supported on XP (though it does largely work in practice), and depending on your target audience XP support might be important. In such a case, continuing to use Java 7 may make sense. I have Java 5 installed (though my default Java version is the latest Java 8 update, and only things I specifically tell to run with 5 will use it) for largely this reason - I wrote a program a few years ago that was to support the ancient OS X 10.4 operating system from 2004, and I haven't upped the minimum requirements since then. Thus, having Java 5 installed is useful so that I don't accidentally make it depend on newer features. I probably will up the requirement to 1.7 this year, but as the few updates I've done to it in the past 2 years wouldn't get much benefit from newer features, it seemed silly to bump the few souls who were still using OS X 10.4 (or OSX 10.5, 10.6, or Windows 98, ME, or 2000) for essentially no reason.

 

Using Java 8.

Cheers
3Fees