Netscape, Java, and Wingspan: problems reported

According to Peter Kirn, Netscape Communicator 4.7 may have problems with Java applets. At least, there is a specific problem with Peter's online bank, Wingspan 4.6 or later. Frames loaded by the Wingspan Java applet displayed "glacially slowly and would then, slowly as ever, redraw a second time before completing." Peter had no such problem with Internet Explorer 4.5. He contacted Wingspan technical support about this and they replied:

Currently we recommend that you do not upgrade to Netscape 4.7. Netscape 4.7 does have a problem with the compatibility of its Java. I would recommend that you use Internet Explorer, or downgrade your version of Netscape to 4.51.

Update: Dan Zimmerman claims that Wingspan displays glacially slowly with 4.6, too. And unfortunately for Wingspan, their site doesn't work with IE on the Mac, either - sure, you can see everything, but you can't actually fill in any forms (like those required to make a bill payment, for example). The only solution I've found is to run a browser on another machine (Virtual PC, or on a UNIX system using X-Windows) and display it on my Mac.

On the other hand, Stan Kline writes: "I am using MRJ plugin which allows Netscape 4/5 to use MacOS Runtime for Java and 4.7 seems the most stable version I have ever used."