java v. flash question

I just got a new computer and it has most of the usual suspects preinstalled- adobe acrobat, adobe flash player, sun java, etc. I plan on disposing of acrobat soon. But do I need adobe flash player? Would sun java from sun microsystems do everything that adobe flash does (if needed)? I would suspect that java is safer than flash- is that true?

 

I am not an expert with respect to current PC technology, but I believe that Adobe took over the Flash program (which is similar to the Macromedia Shockwave program) that provides animation to webpages. Java is a program that executes applets which are embedded code within a webpage and allows a user to interact with that webpage. If you come across a Flash media file, you will need the Flash player (or get an error message that Flash is not installed). Also, if you come across webpages with applets and don't have Java, you will will not "see" the webpage correctly (and in some cases, not at all). So they are two different animals from little that I know. Is Java safer than Flash? Not sure, but vulnerabilities on both programs have been used by hackers to deploy malware across a lot of websites (you will notice that both Sun Microsystems and Adobe seem to keep updating those two programs a lot recently).

 

They are different technologies.
Sun Java provides a runtime environment for application and web applets.
Flash Player is a media player for interactive (think Youtube) web content.
There are others technologies: Shockwave, Quick Time, Windows Media, Real Media, etc.

 

FYI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Player
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_programming_language

 

thanks for the info- it helps clear things up a bit