We are not fans of Java. Quite frankly, considering the constant updates needed and the inability to shut off Java checks for updates, it’s time for something new. I have been happily using SAPgui 7.2 without a problem for over a year now. Our developers recently encountered a problem with the older SAPgui that was fixed in 7.3 so it was time to update. I downloaded the SAPGui 7.3 rev 8 and installed it on my Mac. This should have been as easy as I imagined. Sadly it wasn’t. 
First, I got a message that it could not find the current JRE, I don’t have the JDK installed but have the JRE installed and, I thought, working perfectly. 
Since the old SAPgui was still installed, I checked to see if that was still operational and I could use that to troubleshoot what was happening. 
From the looks of it, SAPgui is still using 1.60 which is the Java VM that Apple provides by default, even though I installed Java 1.70 a year ago successfully. This is why I hate working with Java. So now I have two different versions running but, like most corporations, we only want to run one version so we can try and support it. Sure enough, when running Java – Versions it lists 1.6. 
Based on a tip, I downloaded the full on JDK 217MB and installed it. 
That solved the problem. Apparently the newest SAPgui version requires the full JDK install as opposed to just the JRE that most people have installed. 
I’ll look into the why later but wanted to share the solution.
Phillip Avelar is a Managing partner at Advanced Solutions, based in Chicago. He works with SAP enterprises to optimize their supply chains, increase productivity and challenges the status quo. He shares his passion for solving customers problems in his blog posts, industry articles and conference talks.