Java 8 release pushed back due to security concerns

The release of Java 8 has been pushed back until the first quarter of 2014.

Oracle, the maker of Java, initially planned the platform's release for early September, but is now delaying the launch due to security concerns with its widely used plugin.

Last Thursday, Mark Reinhold, chief architect of the Java platform group, said in a blog post that Java vulnerabilities have received a great deal of public attention recently, and that maintaining Java security “takes priority over developing new features.”

Last month, researchers at FireEye discovered a Java zero-day flaw being exploited, which led to memory being overwritten in the Java Virtual Machine process. 

In January, Milton Smith, the security lead for Java, promised users that the company would get the platform “fixed up." Some security experts have called for users to disable or uninstall Java for the browser.