FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.7.0_13"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_13-b20)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 23.7-b01, mixed mode)


ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Any X11 based windowing system (specifically we are running Redhat Linux)
Linux 2.6.32-431.23.3.el6.i686 #1 SMP Wed Jul 16 06:09:26 EDT 2014 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Starting with Java 7 through Java 8, Swing menus are rendered too slowly when displayed using X11 over a network connection and running local X11 applications which update their display frequently. The same applications run under Java 6 have no such performance issue in the very same environment.

This is a critical issue for us as we are operating a machine with a control system and multiple applications running concurrently to monitor the machine.

REGRESSION. Last worked in version 6u45

ADDITIONAL REGRESSION INFORMATION:
java version "1.6.0_20"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_20-b02)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 16.3-b01, mixed mode)

Every version of Java 6 works fine.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
1) open xterm

2) Run an X11 application locally which updates its display frequently. For example, you can launch Firefox and point it to the URL: web.ornl.gov/~t6p/Main/WebPlot/demo/live/livedemo.xhtml

3) open a terminal to a remote server using ssh -Y YourID@remoteserver

4) run the java 7 version of jvisualvm in the remote terminal

5) open another terminal to a remote server using ssh -Y YourID@remoteserver just as before

6) run the java 6 version of jvisualvm in this new remote terminal

7) Select menu items in both versions of jvisualvm and navigate through them

Note that the menus in java 6 respond very quickly but those in java 7 are really sluggish.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
When navigating through the menus, I expect similar performance between the Java 6 and Java 7 versions.
ACTUAL -
When navigating through the menus, the Java 7 version is very sluggish.

In our real world scenario this is considerably more severe as we have multiple applications running concurrently and observe no delay with Java 6 menu rendering, but a ten to twenty second delay rendering swing menus under Java 7. Both Java 7 and 8 are unusable for use due to this bug.

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
We can workaround the issue by launching our applications using nxclient, but that introduces its own issues.