In my environment, we have several web based applications that leverage Java for various web components.
The issue is, each one of these applications requiring a different jre version.
We are always current with updates to those applications, however they are not always quick to patch to be compatible with the most recent jre.
Our worst offender is actually an Oracle application.
We haven't run into a scenario where there wasn't at least one version of jre that was compatible with all of our applications.
Our issue is with controlling client installation of jre. Because we manufacture software, it is necessary for our users to be local administrators.
I've looked at several possible solutions( deployment via gpo and custom admx extensions, batch/powershell scripts etc) but have yet to find either a cohesive solution, or at least one that doesn't feel like it is put together with a glue stick and macaroni.
I'd like to hear what some other admins are doing to deal with this.