The end of an era, Google Chrome 45 removes NPAPI support.

[Aura]

September 2015

In September 2015 (Chrome 45) we will remove the override and NPAPI support will be permanently removed from Chrome. Installed extensions that require NPAPI plugins will no longer be able to load those plugins.

https://www.chromium.org/developers/npapi-deprecation

Google Chrome users who rely on functionality that NPAPI plugins provide won't be able to make use of it anymore with the release of Chrome 45. NPAPI-only plugins such as Java or Silverlight are used throughout the web and while their use is declining, there are numerous applications and services that make use of either one or another plugin.

Chrome 45 launches without NPAPI plugin support - gHacks Tech News

Announcement on Google Product Forums: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/TYbj21PkcAQ

It's the end of an era. I expect Mozilla Firefox to jump in soon, and Internet Explorer to eventually follow (if Microsoft even cares, but they removed these in Microsoft Edge). This being said, this will force the developpers to explore new technologies that are more secure, and the removal of NPAPI plugins support in Google Chrome makes it even more secure than before.

 

[Digerati]

I'd say because Edge does not support ActiveX controls (needed for NPAPI support in IE), Microsoft does care, at least in a round-about way. Whether they block NPAPI support in IE will depend on how well (if?) users adopt Edge in place of IE - and that is not going near as well as Microsoft wanted - even with their annoyingly aggressive (if not criminal, or at least unethical), forceful attempt to foist the underdeveloped :doh: Edge onto W10 users.

NPAPI is 20 years old and served a purpose but now needs to go away.

This being said, this will force the developpers to explore new technologies that are more secure

Since NPAPI deprecation was announced 3 years ago this month, I sure hope developers have already done all the exploration they need and have the recommended alternatives (HTML/CSS/JS) set to go. If not, then it is those developers who need to be called onto the carpet, not Chrome.