Thank you for your reply but - supported is not the same as the same. So we have done the following...
1) ensured that our dev and test servers are running the latest version of xampp-linux they are v1.7.4 which includes php 5.3.5
2) we then checked that our servers were fully in accordance with joomla's techical requirements which are here...
www.joomla.org/technical-requirements.html
and they are.
3) we then checked joomla php.ini requirements here...
docs.joomla.org/Security_Checklist_4_-_Joomla_Setup
our internal servers fully comply with this in particular register_globals is set to off (interestingly register_globals is set to On in the production servers - more of that in a minute)
4) turned register_globals on on the dev server and ran phpdebug this returns the following message...
"Deprecated: Directive "register_globals" is deprecated in php 5.3 and greater"
5) Ran the vanilla j1.7 on our servers on lo no fatal errors
6) So the fatal errors occur when we follow joomla's own technical guidance
7) With strict standards mode it is clear that SOME variables are not being loaded from the relevant components base classes (we will do further analysis tomorrow and advise)
The issue is NOT with our internal servers as we can now turn the fatal errors on and off at will by using the register_globals setting.
9) We have NEVER had any issues with our internal servers until testing joomla components that are 1.5/1.6/1.7 native
Questions...
1) Is your xampp the latest version - 1.7.4 with php 5.3+?
2) Do you have register_globals set to ON in your php.ini if so try turning it OFF as per Joomla's technical guidance we suspect you will enter into a whole new world of fun!
Please understand we are not having a go at CB or you, we have already identified the same issue with another J1.7 compatible component provider. We are just using our resources as an contribution to open source as we suspect this issue is going to bite a lot of people in the future. We would wholly support the general recommendation that do not go near j1.7 yet unless you have no choice