I understand why, but still lament that java applets where dropped like a hot potato, rather than solving the (fundamental) issues.

Back then, I learned Java, just to have fancy menus, quirky gimmicks and such. Until flash came along, nothing could do this. Where Java was rather open, free/libre, flash was proprietary and even patented. A big step back. And it took decades before JavaScript reached parity in possibilities to create such interactive, multimedia experiences in a cross-browserish way.

I can only imagine how much further along something like videoconferencing, realtime collaboration or gaming on the web would've been if this Java applet tech had been ever improving since inception.

(edit: I'm all for semantic, accessible ,clean HTML/CSS/JS in my web apps. But there's lots of use cases for gimmicks, fancy visuals, immersive experiences etc. and no, that's not the hotel-reservation-form or the hackers-forum. But art. Or fun. Or ?)