Compatibility issues are quickly disappearing.

Six weeks ago I cautioned against an early upgrade to Snow Leopard largely on grounds of its lack of compatibility with many common applications.

Having tried SL 6.1 on my iMac I can report that most of the most commonly used applications I use now run fine. It’s especially satisfying to see that legacy PPC applications (ones written for the old Macs using the IBM G3/4/5 CPUs) run really well under Rosetta, though why on earth Apple makes Rosetta an optional install which you have to search for (under ‘Customize’) beats me. Most specifically, Photoshop CS2 runs perfectly and I have no need or desire to pay Adobe for a later version given my limited PS use. And yes, I still run ancient versions of Microsoft Word and Excel as they do all I need and I simply hate paying Microsoft for anything.

Lightroom in 64-bit mode runs fine and, once again, it’s a wonder to me Adobe doesn’t simply detect 64-bit systems automatically rather than insisting on installing in 32-bit mode by default. The switch is beyond obscure – right click on LR in Finder and uncheck the ’32-bit’ box. Jeez! To confirm you are running in 64-bit mode, switch on the splash screen to make it show when LR starts (it’s under ‘Preferences’) and you should see the ’64-bit’ narrative there.

Why switch to Snow Leopard at all? Because sooner or later it will be mandatory as older OS version are supported less and less. Do it now and it’s easier. Do it later and lots of things have to be fixed all at once. And Apple does a decent job in major OS revisions (Panther->Tiger->Leopard->Snow Leopard) that once they are past the first or second version things tend to run pretty well. They have for me.

Now if we could only get the likes of Adobe to rewrite their applications to properly use multi-core CPUs and all that 64-bit goodness, wouldn’t life be sweet? Unfortunately, one of the sadder aspects of the gradual demise of Aperture is that Adobe has less competition. Would that Apple bought Adobe (chump change to Apple) and brought some modernization and proper user interface design to Photoshop, though why anyone would want the aggravation of all those angry help calls from Windows users beats me.

But look, I’m not grumbling. Lightroom 2.5 runs just fine with Snow Leopard. For that I am sincerely grateful.

There’s actually some pretty interesting technical information on 64-bit technology and related developments to be found on Apple’s site which those so inclined can find by clicking the picture below.

Serious compatibility issues.

Apple has said that its 64-bit OS, Snow Leopard, will be on sale August 28. You know – all the usual twaddle – better, faster, smaller, etc. Just pay up, please. The cash register is right over there. We gotta keep those analysts on Wall Street happy. Goodness alone knows what additional stress the 64-bit OS places on already overtaxed graphics circuitry in overheated, poorly ventilated boxes. And excuse me, but just how many 64-bit third party applications are out there and don’t these need 32gB or more of RAM to show any benefit? Once again, it seems, we are being offered a Ferrari to do the grocery shopping, because the racetrack is closed.

Come to think of it, I’m still trying to figure out what, if anything, the ‘upgrade’ from Tiger to Leopard did for me, other than a butt ugly purple login screen. At least our machines did not fry under Tiger.

Snow Leopard (in)compatibility list – extract

Unless you are positively insane or unless you have checked this compatibility list and are willing to believe what you read, you really should hold off upgrading, no matter how cheap it is.

Older PPC applications like Adobe Photoshop CS2 (will not run) and Intuit’s Quicken (Intuit says it will run but they are a business which shares business morals with eBay and PayPal – no earthly way you can trust a company that disables its software every other year to force you to upgrade) are problem areas. I don’t know about you but I am not about to shell out hundreds of dollars on the latest version of Photoshop which does nothing for me, or trust Intuit, only to do my photo processing or mess up my on-line banking.

But there are bigger shockers in this list. SpamSieve, the ne plus ultra of email spam apps, superb in every way and leaving Apple’s Mail Spam function in the dust, will not run. Photoshop Elements will not run. Really! Disk Warrior (serious $) will not run. MenuMeters will not run. NeoOffice may not run (the thinking man’s free alternative to the garbage called Office from Microsoft). SafariBlock – a key ad blocker for me which stops all ads, including those irritating flash ads – will not run. SmartScroll will not run. Dozens of others are in ‘Unknown’ status.

And no news of all those fan (Fan Control, SMC Fan Control) and temperature measurement (Temperature Monitor) utilities which are essential to stop your Mac from frying. What if they don’t run? And what if your new OS fries the GPU twice as fast as the old one, seeing as Snow Leopard is meant to be so much faster?

Well you get the idea. Updating now is simply crazy. Let the guinea pigs who see no wrong in anything Apple do the bleeding for you.

Snow Leopard – run away fast or it will bite you in the rear.