This is negative scenario where some invalid params are passed onto applet. In this particular scenario applet fails to load instead of ingoring the invalid set of parmeters.
Try loading the following applet, if fails to load then bug is reproduced
http://sqeweb.sfbay.sun.com/deployment2/jitu/plug-bug/runtimeArgs/RuntimeArgsNegative.html

You can notice that Java icon system tray fails to show up and if Java Console is set to "SHOW", it will also fails to show up. All this indicates that the JVM/Plug-in fails to start.