Alces applicaton opens and then closes immediately; using 7u17

Java version: 7u17


Last version it worked in: 6u43
OS: Windows 7
Browser: Google Chrome

Applet Name and link: Alces 0.9.9.1 http://www.cip4.org/open_source/alces

Bug description:
Java application Alces opens and closes immediately with 7u17

Steps to reproduce:
1) Download Alces 0.9.9.1 from http://www.cip4.org/open_source/alces/
2) Run the bat file to start Alces
3) It will open and then close within a second and not run
4) Java 6 update 43 64 bit will work, but Java 7u17 will not.

Reproduced by Java.com team:
Yes. Reproduced on 7u17.