I understand now exactly what happened with respect to all distributed Jmol and JSpecView Java applets going dark a few days ago.
On October 15, 2015, all deployed Jmol Java (not HTML5) applets ceased to function. Instantly. Without warning, and without explanation. The event knocked out every site developed to date that still uses the Jmol Java applet. It did not have any affect on stand-alone Java applications. But it did affect all Java applets, whether embedded or downloaded with JNLP. The cause of the event was an unexpected certificate revocation when I switched from the security algorithm SHA-1 to SHA-2 at the advice of my certificate authority, GoDaddy, just before extending my certificate for another 2 years. I was advised to upgrade to SHA-2, and the customer service rep failed to mention that this would trigger a revocation of my current certificate. Upon the single click of a link on the GoDaddy web site, all distributed Jmol applets on any website anywhere in the world using any browser failed to function. Instantly. They are dead and cannot ever be resurrected. This GoDaddy rep as well as a second rep whom I talked with later both had no idea this would happen. Apparently they thought (if they thought anythnig) that certificate revocation should not have had any effect on deployed applets. Jmol's JAR files are signed with a timestamp, after all, and as such should be protected from revocation. That's the purpose of a timestamp. Ah, but there is a catch. Despite the fact that the Jmol code was signed with a timestamp, revocation *prior to the expiration date of the certificate* results in Oracle's Java applet initializer to disregard the timestamp and not allow such applets to start. Ever again. So that's what happened. SourceForge now has an updated set of JAR files at http://sourceforge.net/projects/jmol/files/Jmol/Version%2014.4/Version%2014.4.0 Any web page needing the Jmol Java applet must upgrade. Bob -- Robert M. Hanson Larson-Anderson Professor of Chemistry Chair, Department of Chemistry St. Olaf College Northfield, MN http://www.stolaf.edu/people/hansonr If nature does not answer first what we want, it is better to take what answer we get. -- Josiah Willard Gibbs, Lecture XXX, Monday, February 5, 1900
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