A DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUEST :
This error message occurs when a JVM attempts to run bytecode compiled by a new version of Java. It should say that. In addition, either the "major.minor" version should be included by 'java -version', or don't include it in the error message.

JUSTIFICATION :
There is no easy way to correlate a major.minor version to a Java VM version. The existing error message is unnecessarily confusing, and generates lots of Google searches, or worse: casual users will just abandon the attempt to run the app, and probably leave with a sour taste in their mouth regarding Java in general.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
I would like to see a more informative, useful message like:

"This Java program appears to be compiled by a version of Java newer than what this version (JVM 1.x) can support. Please upgrade your Java version, or recompile with -target 1.x."
ACTUAL -


C:\>appletviewer JMFAudioLoop.java
java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: JMFAudioLoop (Unsupported major.minor version 49.0)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass0(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:537)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:123)
at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.findClass(AppletClassLoader.java:157)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:289)
at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.loadClass(AppletClassLoader.java:123)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:235)
at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.loadCode(AppletClassLoader.java:561)
at sun.applet.AppletPanel.createApplet(AppletPanel.java:617)
at sun.applet.AppletPanel.runLoader(AppletPanel.java:546)
at sun.applet.AppletPanel.run(AppletPanel.java:298)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:534)


---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
Compile any application with a new JDK, then run with an older JRE.
---------- END SOURCE ----------