sunPATH and Mac OS 10.7 Lion

IMPORTANT -- If you are considering switching your Macintosh operating system to Mac OS 10.7 Lion please read this.

Dear sunPATH User,

Apple is scheduled to release a new operating system this summer 2011 (Lion Mac OS X 10.7).  If you do not plan on upgrading to the new operating system, please disregard this message.


Lion Bites Back
What Apple has NOT told you about Mac OS 10.7 Lion.
Longtime owners of Mac computers may find the conversion to Lion a time consumming and expensive experience. Adapting to OS 10.7 will take work and planning for this group of people. Owners who recently joined the Mac community, however, will find Lion to be an easy conversion with respect to their data files and applications.

You may be using programs now that will not work in Lion. You will need to purchase updates (which can be expensive like Photoshop or MS Office) or find alternative programs and deal with transferring your data which you must do if you use programs like Quicken or Quickbooks 2007.

The real cost of Mac OS Lion is more than the $29.99 that Apple charges. You may need to purchase a number of update and new replacement software.  If you are not currently running Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard, you must purchase and install this system to allow you to access the App Store so you can purchase and download Lion.

I am sorry to report that sunPATH will NOT run in Mac OS 10.7 Lion.  

sunPATH was originally programmed for the older PowerPC architecture, and was able to run on newer Intel-based Macs due to an Apple technology called Rosetta. Sadly with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Apple has discontinued support for Rosetta.  Rosetta is a brilliant utility that works invisibly in the background of Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard allowing you to run PowerPC applications.  Apple has not said why they are discontinuing Rosetta in Lion.

Macworld Article “Lion and the Rosetta dead-end”

My Options:

Completely rewrite sunPATH for Intel-based Macs.  I am a filmmaker.  Computer programming is a hobby.  I will have to look into the cost of time and money to rewrite sunPATH.  sunPATH sales have dropped greatly in the last few years but I know a lot of you still depend on sunPATH on a regular basis. Let me know what you think. Should I rewrite sunPATH or has sunPATH outlived it’s usefulness? A new version will require an update charge?  How much would you be willing to pay?

Send me your thoughts at:  Click Here to Comment

Your Options:

One option, of course, is to not upgrade to OS 10.7. Be aware, however, that if you buy a new Mac after Lion is released it will have Lion installed as the operating system.

A second option is a two-computer option. Dedicate one computer to running Snow Leopard for sunPATH and your other PowerPC applications. Transfer Universal and Intel applications (and corresponding data files) to the second computer that can be upgraded to Lion.

This is cumbersome, but sunPATH and your PowerPC applications’ critical data files will still be accessible. 

A variant on the two-computer option is to use multiple hard drives/partitions by partitioning your computer’s internal hard drive into a Snow Leopard volume and a Lion volume or by use of an external hard drive for one OS and the internal for the other OS. Once those are set up you can choose to start the computer running the desired OS from the appropriate source, using System Preferences/ Startup Disk/ Restart. (This is the method I will use)

When you run sunPATH you can print all your reports to PDF and access them later when you are using Lion.

osXdaily Article “How to Install and Dual Boot Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and 10.6 Snow Leopard”

Let me know what you think...  Click Here to Comment

David Parrish SOC

Wide Screen Software LLC

7 July 2011

Other PowerPC programs you may be using, a few but not all have expensive updates

(not a complete list):

Quicken 2007 and earlier (including all previous years data)
Quickbooks 2007

Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008
Quicktime 7

VLC

Freehand

Appleworks

Photoshop 7

URL Manager Pro

WebConfidential

Eudora

FileMaker Pro 6

Practica Musica

Canon photo software

OmniGraffle 3

Amadeus II 3.84

Bookends UB

Intaglio UB

iSiloX

WordPerfect 3.5

some Printer and Scanner software and drivers

MTR 2.6.6

AOE II

Starcraft 1 :O

EasyWMA (freeware version)

Fallout 1

Jomic

Resknife

Stronghold

number of older games

TidBITS “Preparing for Lion: Find your PowerPC Applications”