[cbhl]

Well, about ten or fifteen years ago, "we all were" would have been the answer. Except that back then, there were multiple choices -- plug-ins meant you could choose Java, or Flash, or ActiveX (Visual Basic 6, anyone?), or VRML for that matter.

The number of security issues that plug-ins have had in the last two decades makes most of them non-starters nowadays, although there are still plenty of sites that use them extensively (say, Childrens' game websites like Neopets and Nick Jr.'s website) depending on the target audience.

[Carioca]

Also, apparently internet banking and ecommerce in South Korea relies heavily on ActiveX

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/due-to-secu...