Beware: Sun disabling the Microsoft VM

I filed a bug report about Firefox hanging after running Java applets
(details at http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+hangs) and the
folks at Sun asked me to uninstall JRE 1.7 build 41 and test to see if
the problem occurs in JRE 1.6 Update 11.

I downgraded my Java version as requested, and was surprised to
discover that it disables Internet Explorer from running the Microsoft
VM, which we use for a variety of purposes, including recording demo
videos (Sun has never come close to the performance of the decade-old
MS VM).

Previously and in all the JRE 1.7 builds, after installing the Sun JVM
it was possible to use the Microsoft VM by going into Internet
Explorer's "Internet Options | Advanced" item "Java (Sun)" and
unchecking the checkbox "Use JRE 1.7.0 for <applet>". That checkbox
is gone in JRE 1.6 Update 11, and if you go into the Sun Java console
the "Default Java for browsers" item is selected and grayed out
(inactive) for Internet Explorer. Running javacpl.exe as an
administrator in Vista didn't fix the problem. As a result, there
seems to be no way to re-enable the MS VM.

I don't know if this is a bug or decision by Sun to disable the MS VM,
but developers should know about this issue and beware.
.

Relevant Pages

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