6u8-b01 is provable DOA for applet qualification. Many online game applets fail to load. It is a regression and caused specifically by 6u8-b01. The problem doesn't happen with 6u7-fcs-b06/ 6u7-rev-b12 and latest 6u10-b29 on the same machines. The impact can be noticed on many different sites (games.iwon/games.yahoo/gamehouse/easystreetgames/javaonthebrain/javaboutique/java.sun.com/....)

--> *** Identified Workaround***: Disable Java cache and the problem goes away

The problem is independent of browser types. Error messages are a bit diffenrent from applet to applet including NPEs, NoClassDefFoundError,ClassNotFoundException,....
Attached are a few screenshots to demonstrate the defect for reference.

Tested Release: jre 6u8-b01 (SE/J4B), 6u7-fcs-b06, 6u7-rev-b12, 6u10-b29
       Browser: IE 6, IE 7, FF 2.0.0.16, FF 3.0.1
       OS: XP-pro(sp2/sp3), Vista(sp1)

Steps to reproduce:
------------------
1) Install jre 6u8-b01 onto the test system
2) Make sure Java cache is enabled
3) Using IE or FF to browse:
http://games.yahoo.com/console/bo

If the applet fails to load then the problem is reproducible.


Error message:
-------------
java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.sun.deploy.cache.DeployFileOutputStream.close(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection$HttpInputStream.close(Unknown Source)
at java.io.FilterInputStream.close(Unknown Source)
at inknet.InkUtil.É(inknet/InkUtil)
at inknet.InkUtil.getGameCanvasType(inknet/InkUtil)
at gamehouse.SuperApplet.init(gamehouse/SuperApplet)
at sun.applet.AppletPanel.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
basic: Exception: java.lang.NullPointerException
java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.sun.deploy.cache.DeployFileOutputStream.close(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection$HttpInputStream.close(Unknown Source)
at java.io.FilterInputStream.close(Unknown Source)
at inknet.InkUtil.É(inknet/InkUtil)
at inknet.InkUtil.getGameCanvasType(inknet/InkUtil)
at gamehouse.SuperApplet.init(gamehouse/SuperApplet)
at sun.applet.AppletPanel.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)