I think we're at a point now where we can deploy Java 8 without breaking anything, but now that I'm ready to do it, I wonder about the best way to do it. Java 7 updates have been coming via the patchmypc catalog, so I don't have an application in SCCM for the version of Java 7 currently installed on our workstations. That means I can't mark the Java 8 application as superseding the Java 7 application. I considered just adding the guid for the Java 7 version to the "installable rules" for the java 8 update in SCUP, but would that uninstall Java 7 in the process or simply install Java 8 along side 7?
At this point, I'm thinking my best option would be to create an application for Java 7 update 71 (we hadn't moved up to 75 yet), and use it just for the sake of being superseded by the java 8 application, to be sure it uninstalls.
That would probably be the best option to use Supersedence for a version of Java 7 that all machines have and then deploy Java 8 with that Supersedence rule for Java 7. We may look at creating a migration update at some point that removes previous versions.
Just an update we will have a Java 7 to Java 8 migration update released within the next few days.