As has been mentioned before, Ór is distributed using a Java tool called Webstart. This makes the task of installing & managing Ór very easy for me and for users. It also made it easy for Ór to be made available for Mac & Linux.
Most of the time, Webstart has worked well but there have been several instances in the past where Sun/Oracle have broken important features. The latest one, where Webstart insists on re-downloading the native libraries that Ór uses to access the COM ports, is by far the most serious.
I have put a workaround on
http://http://orienteering.ie/wiki/doku.php?id=or:... . This has worked well for me and several others. However, for some reason, it doesn't seem to work for everybody. I will post a second workaround during the week which I have found works in other cases. Basically, it involves installing Java 6 and, possibly, removing Java 7. However, this is far from ideal. All possible workarounds negate one of my prime aims which is to make it easy for a non-technical person to operate SPORTident.
In the long term, I think I will have to abandon Webstart and use a normal Windows installer (can anyone recommend a free installer). This will probably have an impact on Linux and Mac support. I do not intend performing the work needed to provide future support for Mac or Linux unless there is a demonstrable need. So, if you use Ór on a Mac or Linux machine and you need future updates, you'd better let me know.
Realistically, I will not have time to invest in this changeover until at least mid-May. I do have another release in the works (the main feature is drawing start times from a start list) which may still use webstart. I am not sure when that will be ready but it will probably be some time in May.
My apologies for the uncertainty caused by the latest problem, but it is not of my making.
Martin