[#769] - 1.2.7 hangs on startup whilst checking for updates.

After downloading iReport 1.2.7 and 1.2.6 and running the application from the batch file (JDK 1.5.0_06) The main application window appears and is empty. The frame does not react to mouse clicking, ie to close the window/app.

I downloaded the source version and found that the hang was occuring when the plugins are intitialized
MainFrame.loadPlugins(String plugins_dir), to be more accurate, the call to the update checker pe.getPlugin().call(), was blocking the application.

After commenting this line out, the hanging error ceased.