Java update and reverting to 1.6 plug in.

So ideally I would like to install the update (for various reasons, including security) but still have access to University system.

It doesn't sound like you can. If this is a web-based Java applet, there is no Java 6 applet plug-in anymore. Apple has removed it in this update, so you have no choice but to use Java 7 for web applets. If it is not a web applet, rolling back should work fine, but the system may be incompatible with the changes in the latest version of Java 6 as well. If you can't use the latest versions of Java, you will be forced to use a version of Java that is not only vulnerable to attack, but that the hackers of the world have now gotten a road map to (in the form of the update). Just because a vulnerability is patched does not mean that it stops being exploited... many vulnerabilities continue to be exploited for years, due to people who are unable or unwilling to install security updates.

Honestly, you shouldn't have to be forced to compromise the security of your system to use this software. You need to speak to people at your university at a higher level than just the techs, and explain to them how this system is compromising both university security and the individual security of every person who uses it. Scare them, and they'll light a fire under the techs to get this fixed.

Apple just published a Kbase article on how to revert, if you want to get down with your command-line bad self:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5559

Let me guess - the system you are having problems with is Oracle Forms based?

This issue occurs because Java 1.6 has a vendor string of 'Sun Microsystems Inc.' and Java 7 has a vendor of 'Oracle'.

The Oracle Forms code looks at the vendor string, sees 'Oracle' and assumes you are running the Oracle JInitiator (Oracle didn't own Java when it was written). It then looks up the version number, finds 1.7.x, then decides that this is not the right version of JInitiator (it will need JInitiator 1.8+).

The good news is you should be able to work around it as Java supports a custom vendor string. You will need to open the Java control panel, go into Java Runtime Environment Strings and enter a runtime parameter of:

-Djava.vendor="Sun Microsystems Inc."

After this, your system should work as it will decide you are using Java rather than a version of JInitiator.

I realise this thread is old, but it will no doubt be useul for others.

Thank you, Paul! I had been trying to fix this issue on my Mac since last fall with no success. Now I can work on report cards from home! Hooray!

Paul - Is this where I should enter the parameter you discribed? It didn't solve the problem so I must be doing something wrong. I still receive the "JInitiator version too low" error message.

Thank you for any help as I've talked to no less than four Helpdesk employees at my company and none can figure this out. I can't be the only one with this problem. Thanks!!

Paul - It worked!! No need to reply. I tried it in Safari and it is working perfectly. Thank you so much for this!

Apologies for not replying to your previous post but I did not receive any notification.

It looks like you entered it correctly, however you might have had some java processes still in memory which you probably discovered was fixed by rebooting 🙂 - for the benefit of people who might find this thread, after you make the change, if it doesn't work, first try restarting your browser, if that doesn't work, reboot.