On April 16, 2015, Google released an update (42.0.2311.87) from the popular Chrome browser. Fixes and new features aside, the major change in this release is that it no longer supports the running of NPAPI plugins, including the java virtual machine.
The change greatly affects the different applications of electronic administration, especially those that involve the use of digital signature based electronic signature, since many are based on the execution of signature applets. Since yesterday, with Google Chrome, many of them have stopped working.
It goes without saying that the upgrade, with a standard installation of the software, is performed automatically, which is why many users will have found that java applications have stopped working with their one-day browser for another. As Google explains in his development wiki, for now the execution of NPAPI plugins can be re-enabled by putting chrome: // flags / # enable-npapi. In September the execution of this type of extensions will no longer be supported by the browser.
From the AOC Consortium we are working on finding alternatives to electronic signatures for applets. While these alternatives are yet to be implemented, we recommend using Internet Explorer and Firefox to use web applications that require java applet execution.
