Snowbound is running a three-part blog series on the end of applets and what the future holds for web applications. Check back on Wednesday and Friday for the other installments: Part 1 (Monday): The Clock is Ticking to Replace Your Java Applet Part 2 (Wednesday): Why Browser Plug-Ins

With the recent news that Google’s Chrome will be disabling plug-ins that support Flash, Java, Silverlight and more, it is worth taking a look at how we got here and what this means for the future. When browsers and the web were young, some 25 years ago, a handful of pioneering indivi