Java Is Unstable. A year ago we used to hear a lot about Java applets being unstable, threatening normal performance of a computer system, even if such an effect wasn't expected by the applet's developper. A year passed, half dozen newer versions of JDK have been released, and the unstability is still there. Which is not exactly the effect I'm expecting, when someone enters my page. Obviously, Java developpers have dropped all ambitions to make the applets less threatening.
Security means money in computer networking.
Therefore many security breaches, blunders and holes in Java have been fixed and patched over the last months, as soon as they were reported. Still, Java remains pretty insecure, hostile applets haven't gone away, and for the moment disabling support for Java is the best way to eliminate those imminent risks. And I wouldn't want to punish someone, who did the only right thing security-wise, by turning Java support off in his browser, by not showing him things worth seeing. It's Time For Competition. Java still retains its status of overexposed media hype.