I do have the plug-in disabled or not installed in some of my installations. Actually in a few instances Java is not installed either. If I don't need it, it's not installed. This computer I am using now is running Slackware64 with OpenJDK and the IcedTea-Web Plugin. (Not because I think it safer by the way, it's not.) I enable it when I need it; for example that Runescape site you like so much.
I don't really play it, just using that as an example. I did check it out just now, it fetching updates right now...
oops..... just dumped me out and crashed Firefox.
Oh well. Not a big deal, I'm more in to console games than PC ones. That and I don't care of on-line games.
I'm not all that concerned over this threat. It just like any other threat out there, except this one has taken on a life of it own as the threat to hate. Reminds me of Facebook, which I use on occasion and find it quite useful; like the Java programs I use.
I also have NoScript installed, I don't use Chrome. There are no Windows installation in my house, they are not allowed, with a few exceptions, my "work" laptop (dual boot, rarely to Windows, always to Slackware) or running in a VirtualBox VM on this machine. Only the laptop has Java installed because I need it for programs not browsing.