Oracle E-Business Suite Technology

Interim Update #2: Certifying Windows 7 with Oracle E-Business Suite

By Steven Chan on October 22, 2009 10:56 AM

This is the second of a series of regular updates on our Windows 7 certification projects for the E-Business Suite. Microsoft Windows 7 was officially released today. Here's a recap of our plans for certifying the Oracle E-Business Suite with Microsoft's latest operating system. As always, the answers to these questions may change as we move through the certification cycle. You're welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for later updates. Our Progress on Windows 7 We're certifying Windows 7 with the E-Business Suite right now. We've already tested several of the Win7 betas and release candidates, and those tests have gone very smoothly. At this point, E-Business Suite product teams need to complete their certification tests with Windows 7 desktop clients. Once those tests are completed, we'll release our certification. For the usual reasons that regular readers could have predicted, I can't share any specific schedules or date estimates here. I can provide an interim update on the following Win7 questions: 1. Which EBS releases will be certified with Windows 7? 2. Which browsers will be certified? 3. Will Oracle JInitiator be certified for EBS on Windows 7? 4. Which Windows 7 editions will be certified? 5. What about Windows 7E? 6. What about Windows XP Mode?

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Updated Tips for Debugging Sun JRE + Forms Focus Issues for EBS 11i and 12

By Steven Chan on July 22, 2009 1:15 AM

Oracle Jinitiator 1.3 will be desupported for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i users at the end of this month, July 31, 2009.  If you haven't already begun your conversion from JInitiator to the native Sun Java Runtime Engine (JRE) plug-in, now is the time to start. 

The end of this month marks the end of the JInitiator era for Apps 11i.  After this point, we will only support the Sun JRE for Forms users connecting to the E-Business Suite.  I've summarized everything you need to know about the EBS switch from JInit to the Sun JRE in this roundup article.

Clusters of Common Focus-Related Issues

As more of you make the cutover, we've seen that your reported issues are clustering around some common themes.  Based on your feedback and reported issues, we've updated our internal training for all Support engineers who cover Applications Technology area.  Our latest diagnostic and debugging techniques for EBS Forms focus-related issues have been refreshed. 

Our Support and Development teams published notes for diagnosing Forms focus-related issues with Apps 11i earlier this year.  That troubleshooting guide's scope has been broadened to include additional guidance and tips for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 environments, too:

• Diagnosing Forms Mouse Focus Problems Using JRE (Note 760250.1)

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Interim Update #1: Certifying Windows 7 with Oracle E-Business Suite

By Steven Chan on July 1, 2009 12:01 PM

Microsoft Windows 7 has been getting a lot of headlines recently.  This seems to have triggered an small but noticeable increase in questions about our plans for certifying this operating system for E-Business Suite desktop clients. 

We're working with pre-release versions of Windows 7 right now.  For the usual reasons that regular readers could have predicted, I can't share any certification schedules or date estimates here. I can provide an interim update on the following Win7 questions:

1. Which EBS releases will be certified with Windows 7?
2. Which browsers will be certified?
3. Will Oracle JInitiator Be certified for EBS on Windows 7?
4. Which Windows 7 editions will be certified?
5. What about Windows 7E?
6. What about Windows XP Mode?

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Roundup: Oracle JInitiator 1.3 Desupported for EBS Customers in July 2009

By Steven Chan on June 26, 2009 2:50 PM

We've covered the impending demise of JInitiator and the certification of the native Sun Java client in many articles already.  With the sun setting on Oracle Jinitiator next month, this is a good time to summarize the essentials about Windows-based Java clients with the E-Business Suite:

1. Sun's Java Runtime Engine (JRE) is certified with both EBS 11i and 12
2. JInitiator 1.3 will be desupported at the end of July 2009
3. JInitiator 1.1.8 was desupported at the end of December, 2008
4. JInitiator cannot be run on Vista Desktops

If you haven't already started migrating your end-users to the native Sun JRE plug-in, I'd strongly recommend that you begin this process immediately.

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Running JInitiator on Vista Desktops

By Steven Chan on March 24, 2009 1:47 PM

Somewhere in this now-sprawling blog is an article about using JInitiator on Vista.   Sadly, I can't find it.  I've been seeing a few troubling things popping up on the web about various JInitiator hacks, so it's time to reprise that content.

It's not possible to run Oracle JInitiator 1.3 on Microsoft Vista.  Here's why:

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Sun JRE 1.6 Certified on Windows XP for EBS 11i and FDCC Clients

By Steven Chan on February 17, 2009 1:00 AM

Here's a quick update for our readers in the US Federal sector.  Those readers likely already know that the US Office of Management and Budget has mandated that all US Federal Agencies that use or acquire Windows XP and Vista must adopt the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) by February 1, 2008 (OMB Memorandum M-0-7-11 of March 22, 2007, on Implementation of Commonly Accepted Security Configurations for Windows Operating Systems, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2007/m07-11.pdf).

Oracle has published the following document in the Oracle Software Security Assurance Resource Library to address these requirements:

• Federal Desktop Core Configuration: Statement of Direction (PDF, 84K)

You may already also have heard that we've already certified Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i with the US Federal Desktop Core Configuration for Windows XP and Vista desktop clients.  All E-Business Suite Release 11i products are certified for use with the US Federal Desktop Core Configuration.

Since our original certification announcement, we've found that the latest FDCC images -- a.k.a. FDCC 1.1 -- have been updated and now are compatible with the native Sun JRE plug-in for Windows XP desktop clients.  This adds one more certified Apps 11i configuration for FDCC clients.

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Reminder: Migrate Your JInitiator Clients to Sun JRE Now!

By Steven Chan on December 30, 2008 12:39 PM

The significance of many problems lessens over time, so procrastination has its place as a stress management technique.  Unfortunately, putting off your EBS end-user migration from Oracle JInitiator to the native Sun Java plug-in doesn't fall into that category.  We are down to the last grains of sand in this particular hourglass.

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i end-users access Forms-based content either with the native Sun Java Runtime Engine (JRE) client or Oracle JInitiator.  Oracle JInitiator comes in two flavors: 1.8 and 1.3.  The sun is setting for both JInitiator versions.

Error Correction Support (ECS) for JInitiator 1.1.8 will end on December 31, 2008.  In other words, the Oracle Forms group will no longer issue bug fixes for the JInitiator 1.1.8 codeline as of tomorrow.

Error Correction Support for JInitiator 1.3 will end on July 31, 2009.

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JInitiator 1.3.1.30 Certified With Apps 11i

By Steven Chan on November 21, 2008 12:03 PM

Oracle JInitiator is definitely in its sunset phase now.  JInitiator 1.1.8 will no longer receive any new bug fixes as of December 31, 2008.  Similarly, official Error Correction Support for JInitiator 1.3 will end as of July 31, 2009.

I don't have statistics on how many E-Business Suite customers have converted their desktop clients from Oracle JInitiator to the native Sun Java (JRE) client.  Given the impending desupport dates for these two client codelines, I hope that all of you have already switched over -- or, at minimum -- are in the process of migrating your end-users' desktops to the native Sun Java plug-in.

In these final days of support for Oracle JInitiator, I'm pleased to announce that JInitiator 1.3.1.30 is now certified with the E-Business Suite Release 11i.  Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.30 is released via Patch 7410076.  It requires Apps Interoperability Patch 6169479.

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US Federal Desktop Core Configuration Certified With Apps 11i

By Steven Chan on November 11, 2008 10:52 AM

The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) manages the budget for US Federal Government agencies.  The US Office of Management and Budget mandates that all US Federal Agencies that use or acquire Windows XP and Vista must adopt the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) by February 1, 2008 (OMB Memorandum M-0-7-11 of March 22, 2007, on Implementation of Commonly Accepted Security Configurations for Windows Operating Systems, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2007/m07-11.pdf).

Oracle has just published the following document in the Oracle Software Security Assurance Resource Library to address these requirements:

• Federal Desktop Core Configuration: Statement of Direction (PDF, 84K)

In conjunction with that document's release, I'm pleased to announce that Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i is certified with the US Federal Desktop Core Configuration for Windows XP and Vista desktop clients.  All E-Business Suite Release 11i products are certified for use with the US Federal Desktop Core Configuration.

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Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Certified with Apps 11i and 12

By Steven Chan on July 24, 2008 9:31 AM

Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is now certified with E-Business Suite Release 11i and 12.

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JInitiator 1.3 To Be Desupported for Apps 11i in July 2009

By Mike Shaw on February 27, 2008 8:20 PM

With the onward march of progress, I would like to draw your attention to the newly-published Obsolescence notice for JInitiator 1.3 for E-Business Suite 11i (Metalink Note 552692.1). As of July 31, 2009 Error Correction Support for JInitiator 1.3 will...

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JInitiator 1.1.8.27 Certified For Apps 11i

By Steven Chan on December 27, 2007 10:25 AM

Ah, Christmas week, when I have a fighting chance of getting ahead of the game while everyone else is decking the halls and such.  Time to catch up on some long-overdue articles.If your end-users are still running JInitiator 1.1.8.x on...

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Running Multiple Java Plug-Ins on the Same Windows PC

By Steven Chan on December 25, 2007 10:35 AM

Judging from your blog comments and emails, many of you are in the difficult situation of having to support end-users with multiple Java plug-ins on the same Windows PC.  This is a little more complicated than the days when Oracle...

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JInitiator 1.1.8 To Be Desupported for Apps 11i

By Steven Chan on December 21, 2007 1:06 PM

Buried deep within the bowels of our often-inscrutable certification database is a newly-published Obsolescence notice for JInitiator 1.1.8 (Metalink Note 472154.1).  I know that some of you continue to run JInitiator 1.1.8 with your E-Business Suite Release 11i environments for...

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Replacing JInitiator with Sun Java Plug-in 1.5.0_13

By Steven Chan on December 7, 2007 12:14 PM

[Oct 24, 2008 Update:  In case you missed it, you may now use any version of the native Sun Java plug-in with the E-Business Suite as long as it meets or exceeds the minimum versions that we've certified.  Also note...

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JInitiator 1.3.1.29 Certified with E-Business Suite Release 11i

By Steven Chan on September 10, 2007 1:12 PM

The E-Business Suite Release 11i has two interfaces:  a web-based model for modules like Self-Service web applications like iRecruitment and and Expenses, and an Oracle Forms-based model for our professional services modules like Financials.  Oracle Forms are Java-based and require...

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Replacing Jinitiator: Java Plug-In 1.5.0_12 Certified with Apps 11i & 12

By Steven Chan on June 26, 2007 3:14 PM

[Dec 7, 2007 Update:  Sun JRE 1.5.0_13 is now certified with the E-Business Suite; see this article for details about the latest certification]I'm very pleased to announce that the native Sun JRE plug-in version 1.5.0_12 is now certified and Generally...

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Demantra, OracleAS 10.1.3 and the E-Business Suite

By Steven Chan on May 22, 2007 10:12 AM

There's been a recent surge of questions asking whether the E-Business Suite can be used with Oracle Application Server 10g 10.1.3 and Demantra, one of our new product family members.  I'm not a Demantra specialist, but from an Apps architectural...

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Will the Real JRE Please Stand Up?

By Steven Chan on May 3, 2007 9:17 AM

Unlike Release 11i, E-Business Suite Release 12 no longer requires Oracle Jinitiator for its Forms-based content.  In theory, it will be possible to use any version of the native Sun J2SE Runtime Engine (JRE) plug-in to access Forms-based content in...

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JInitiator Upgrade Requirements for DST 2007

By Steven Chan on March 6, 2007 10:32 AM

We held three more webcasts on the US 2007 Daylight Saving Time changes and their impacts on E-Business Suite environments.  Recorded versions of these webcasts are available online. The Feb 26, 2007 version of Metalink Note 403311.1 for E-Business Suite...

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