Apple just released an update to Java:

 

 

ALLOWING THIS UPDATE MEANS THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE WEBCT IN CHROME.

 

This update will be a problem for you only if you are running Mac OS X 10.7 or 10.8. Any earlier Macs will be fine. (How do I know what version I have?)

As much as we hate to say it, we recommend that you do not allow this update if you want to continue to access WebCT in Chrome.

If you have already installed this update, don’t fear! You can still access WebCT, but you’ll have to use Safari or Firefox to upload files.

Why is this happening?

The Java browser plugin continues to be a security risk.

Why doesn’t Chrome work?

Java 7 is written for 64 bit browsers. Chrome is a 32 bit browser. Java 6 was fine on it, but it will not run Java 7. Either Google needs to write Chrome as a 64 bit browser (not going to happen soon), or Oracle needs to make Java 7 compatible with 32 bit browsers (not going to happen at all). Apple released this update because of security, but they are probably not too sad to see their rival Google’s browser suffering.

When will this get better?

When we get off WebCT. #RIPWebCT: your day cannot come soon enough.

What do I do have to do to use Safari or Firefox?

You have two choices.

a) Update the Java plugin (this will bring back the My Computer icon). You can do so by clicking the “More info” button on the popup – that will bring you to the Java website which will help you figure out which version of Java to download.

b) Upload files individually (this is more secure, but a little slower)

“Click here to select files individually” brings up this screen:

Does my browser support WebCT uploads?

Click here to get to javatester.org. You should see a red “LIVE” with a blue “indeed” next to it.

For the curious: What version of Java am I running?

1.6.anything means you can upload files to WebCT. 1.7.anything means you need to run Safari or Firefox.

 

Blackboard has identified further changes that need to be made in WebCT’s database to try to help the slowness we’ve experienced this semester.

In order to make them, they need to take WebCT down Thursday morning from 9 to 10am. They’re going to apply one patch (a total of 9 files) – we expect WebCT to be back up by 10 am.

WebCT hasn’t crashed in 7 days! We are cautiously optimistic that Blackboard’s latest fix is staving off problems, though they are continuing to look at longer term solutions.