Duffbert's Random Musings :: How are Lotus Products Affected by the Discontinuation of Microsoft JVM?

Category IBM/Lotus

I had someone ping me the other day asking if I knew how the discontinuation of the MS JVM would affect Sametime. I had this KnowledgeBase item sitting in my "To Blog" folder, and was able to answer him immediately. I figured that was a good sign that I needed to blog this...

How are Lotus Products Affected by the Discontinuation of Microsoft JVM?

Document Number: 1110357

Problem
As part of Microsoft's settlement agreement with Sun, Microsoft has announced that it will no longer be authorized by Sun to have the ability to support the Microsoft virtual machine (VM) after January 2, 2004. The following link provides additional information:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/news/jre.asp

Effective immediately Microsoft no longer ships the Microsoft VM with its operating systems and new service packs will not include the Microsoft VM. Some of their latest Service Packs may actually uninstall the Microsoft VM.

Note: At this time, the following FAQ on the Microsoft web site indicates that Windows XP no longer removes the VM:

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/java/faq.asp

Microsoft will not distribute new versions of the Microsoft VM for download. Microsoft will continue to provide security fixes to shipped versions of the Microsoft VM until January 2, 2004.

Details on which Microsoft operating systems and service packs contain the Microsoft VM:

Windows OS versions prior to Windows XP shipped with the Microsoft VM.

The Windows XP Service Pack 1 includes the Microsoft VM.
Windows XP Service Pack 1a does not have the Microsoft VM. Note: Installing the XP SP1a may uninstall the Microsoft VM

For further details visit this posting on the Microsoft website: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/news/jre.asp.

How does the discontinuation of the Microsoft VM affect IBM Lotus Products?

Content
As the Microsoft VM will not be supported by Microsoft past January 2, 2004, Lotus Software is taking steps to offer additional/alternative JVM compatibility in our products.

Microsoft has publicly indicated that customers who are currently using the Microsoft VM can continue to do so, and, as noted, that it will continue to provide security fixes to shipped versions of the Microsoft VM until January 02, 2004. Warning: The operating system XP w/SP1 does include the Microsoft VM but if the Service Pack 1a (SP1a) is installed the Microsoft VM will be removed.

Details on how this affects IBM Lotus products follows.

Sametime:
IBM Lotus Sametime 2.5 and 3.0 require that the Microsoft VM be installed on the client to function correctly. A customer might encounter either of the following issues, for example:

- A gray screen when attempting to log into a meeting
- The Sametime Connect client for Browsers (Java Connect) will not launch

Customers who have Windows XP SP1a or another Microsoft operating system which did not include the Microsoft VM will need to install Sametime 3.1. As a workaround for pre-3.1 releases, install the product on a slightly older version of the operating system which included the Microsoft VM and then upgrade the OS but do not allow the VM to be removed.

The following table shows how each Sametime version handles the MS VM problem on different Internet Explorer browsers.

MS JVM Present?	Browser Version	Sametime Versions
MS JVM Present?	Browser Version	Sametime 2.5	Sametime 3.0	Sametime 3.1
If MS VM is present	IE 4	Automatically updates MS VM	Automatically updates MS VM	Automatically updates MS VM
If MS VM is present	IE 5.5	No action necessary - the proper version is installed	No action necessary - the proper version is installed	No action necessary - the proper version is installed
If no VM is present or has been removed by Windows autoupdate	IE 6	Redirect to Microsoft Website	Redirect to Microsoft Website	Warn - manual install
	No VM	Automatically installs MS VM	Automatically installs MS VM	IE 4 does not warn IE 5.5 does not warn IE 6.0 does warn

Sametime 3.1 for Win32, iSeries, pSeries, and Sun Solaris supports Sun JDK 1.4. Sametime 3.1 for the Win32, pSeries, and Sun Solaris platforms was designed to run on Domino 6.0.2. Sametime 3.1 for iSeries is designed to run on Domino 5.0.12 and Domino 6.0.2.
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LearningSpace:
Customers using LearningSpace Collaboration (the Sametime features of LearningSpace) are encouraged to upgrade to LearningSpace 5.0.2, which includes support for Sun's JVM. LearningSpace Virtual Classroom (LVC) customers are encouraged to upgrade to release 1.1.1, which supports Sametime 3.1.

Quickplace:
IBM Lotus QuickPlace primarily uses ActiveX controls and not Java applets. Customers may experience issues, however, when using collaboration (Sametime) features found in QuickPlace, if the Microsoft VM is not installed on the workstation. QuickPlace 3.0.1 was designed to run with Sametime 3.1 which supports Sun JVM. Therefore, customers are encouraged to upgrade to QuickPlace 3.0.1.

Notes/Domino:
IBM Lotus Notes and Domino ship with IBM's own version of the JVM on Win32, so the discontinuation of the Microsoft VM will not directly affect the IBM Lotus Notes Client, Designer Client, Administrator Client or the Domino server. These products use some Java applets that run under the IBM version of a JVM, which is completely independent of Microsoft's VM. The IBM JVM is shipped with Notes and Domino.

Accessing Notes/Domino applications via a browser:
When using a Microsoft Internet Explorer browser to access a Notes Domino application that contains Java applets there is the potential of running into a known issue. This occurs in cases where the Microsoft Virtual Machine is not installed on the operating system. Notes Domino 5.0.12 and 6.0 have been updated for proper functionality under Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 when the Sun JVM is being used instead of the MS VM. For additional related information see the document titled "Domino R5 Java Applets Do Not Load as Expected Under Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP" (#1089896Link).

Users who use the Notes/Domino solutions via a browser have the option of migrating to a compatible JVM. As IBM does not redistribute JVMs other than the IBM version referenced above, it is the responsibility of the user (as a software requirement) to have a compatible JVM installed on the client machine. Please see table below for complete information on compatible JVMs, by release:

The JVM versions in this table are the ones that are supplied as part of the Notes/Domino product and are planned for Notes/Domino 5.0.13 through 6.0.3. Items that are marked "not supported" mean that Notes and Domino do not support running Java agents or Java applets on that platform (you can still use Notes/Domino via the browser if your browser's JVM is compliant).

Platform		Notes/Domino Release
		5.0.13	6.0	6.0.1, 6.0.2	6.0.3
Win32	Windows 95	JDK 1.1.8 (Sun)	not supported
	Windows 2003	not supported			JDK 1.3.1 (IBM) SR4
	Windows 98 / 2000 / NT / XP	JDK 1.1.8 (Sun)	JDK 1.3.1 (IBM) SR2		JDK 1.3.1 (IBM) SR4
Unix	Solaris	JRE 1.1.8 (Sun)	JRE 1.3.1 (Sun)	JRE 1.3.1 (IBM)
	AIX	JRE 1.1.8 (IBM)	JRE 1.3.1 (IBM)
Linux (IA32)		JRE 1.1.8 (Sun)	JRE 1.3.1 (IBM)
zLinux (OS/390)		not supported	JRE 1.3.1 (IBM)
zSeries (OS/390)		JDK 1.1.8 (IBM)	JDK 1.3.1 (IBM)
iSeries (AS/400)		JDK 1.1.8 (IBM)	JDK 1.3.1 (IBM)
Mac OS9		not supported	MRJ 1.2 / JDK 1.1.8 (Apple)
OS/2		JRE 1.1.8 (IBM)	not supported
HPUX		JRE 1.1.8 (HP)	not supported

* Plans for 6.0.3 are subject to change.

iNotes Web Access:
iNotes Web Access was specifically coded not to include Java applets, and therefore is not affected by the issues concerning the Microsoft VM, unless the users' enterprise is planning on taking advantage of the Sametime integration. As of the Sametime 3.1 release, which will run on Domino 6.0.2, support for the Sun JVM 1.4 will be included. Customers have the option to migrate to this JVM to use the Sametime solutions (Web Collaboration and Instant Messaging).*

* Plans are subject to change.

Websphere Portal:
The only affect of this issue is the Sametime 3.0 meeting capability, which relies on the MS VM. No other problems are anticipated with WebSphere Portal.