Jul 27 2007
Don’t Use Java 6
I’ve been having nothing but problems getting Java programs to run on Java 6. The Adobe CS3 suite requires Java to work properly. With Java 6 installed, certain features didn’t work. I also couldn’t get Eclipse to run on Windows with this version of Java either. All of these problems were solved by uninstalling all versions of Java and then installing Java 5.
It takes a bit of effort finding Java 5 on Sun’s web site. The application can be found on the Java download page, clicking on Previous Releases, and then going to the J2SE 5.0 Downloads page. If all that you want to do is run Java applications then it would be enough to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 Update 12. Install the version with NetBeans IDE or Java EE if you want to write Java applications.
The installer will also add Java plugins to Internet Explorer and Firefox. If you try to run a Java application within a web browser and it doesn’t find Java installed, it will try to download the latest version by default which you don’t want.
All of the Java applications and web sites should then work properly. Sun should make an Update 3 for Java 6 to fix the current bugs.
Sep 19, 2007 @ 15:08:21
You didn’t say what the problem with Adobe CS3 is, but I did some yahoogling and the only thing I found was a crash in with VersionCue. The crash was in Adobe’s code and it’s not clear whether it’s a JDK problem or not. 6u3 will be out shortly, 6u4 some time after that and so on.
Sep 21, 2007 @ 09:52:31
The problems we experienced was that Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator were crashing. Our design department complained about other problems as well. Removing Java 6 and installing Java 5 solved most of the problems.
I’m sure the Java 6 problems will be fixed soon, along with the many CS3 issues that people have.
Sep 24, 2007 @ 14:40:59
It’s disappointing to see Adobe chain its products to Java. Everytime the java runtime somehow slips into my system I delightfully uninstall it. =)