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I am getting a message "can't open because PowerPC applications are no longer supported" What do I do about these programs?

I am getting a message "can't open because PowerPC applications are no longer supported." What do I do about these programs?

Posted on Jul 21, 2011 4:45 AM

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68 replies

Jul 21, 2011 9:08 AM in response to tjcarty

It is not Apple's (or any other OS-maker's) job to warn the user that certain peripherals or software may not work after an OS upgrade/update. Understanding the implications of upgrading a computer's OS is the responsibility of the user, especially if mission-critical software must be able to run under the new OS. Any number of Apple-oriented websites (e.g., Macworld) have been warning users for months that old PowerPC software would no longer work under Lion, so anyone concerned about this should consider their options before installing a new OS.

Jul 21, 2011 9:24 AM in response to tjcarty

This is a typical response to try to shift blame to someone else.


It is YOUR responsibilty to check that YOUR software will work under a new OS.


Apple do not know what software you have and therefore can't advise you.


A TV manufacturer does not warn you to check that your DVD player has an HDMI output if you are buying a TV that only has HDMI inputs. It is up to you to check that they are compatible. The same is the case for OS upgrades, you need to check.

Jul 21, 2011 9:33 AM in response to Ian Parkinson

Right. Apple had no idea that it was dropping Rosetta and that PowerPc applications would no longer be supported. They couldn't advise anyone about it. Like a politician said, we have to pass the bill in order to find out what's in it. In this case, I guess we had to purchase and install the product in order to find out what would no longer be supported. There's no way Apple could possibly have known this on the front end and communicated it to consumers at either the time of purchase or during install.

Jul 21, 2011 9:41 AM in response to tjcarty

If you are unwilling to do a bit of reading about a brand new Macintosh operating system before jumping into the fire, you're probably better off not installing it. It's up to you, the customer, to know what you're buying before you buy it. This goes for any product. The information you needed in this case has been all over the internet for months. People who absolutely must continue using old PowerPC apps do have options, such as installing Leopard or Snow Leopard on a separate partition or on an external hard drive.

Jul 21, 2011 10:16 AM in response to tjcarty

This subject has been discussed at length online, written about in articles in all the Mac news magazines, etc. It has been known to developers for a long time, and if you had checked up on compatibility of your applications, it would have been easy to learn about this.


Folks are perhaps coming down a bit hard on you, but your belligerent attitude is not helping. Maybe you didn't know that you should check compatibility of apps and hardware before installing a new system, but now you know. No matter whether you are using Mac, Windows, Linux or some obscure system, software eventually becomes obsolete, and you have to upgrade it or abandon it when you upgrade the system. It is every user's responsibility to check these things.

Jul 21, 2011 10:18 AM in response to alansky1

In defense of the original poster, I just went through the Lion page (http://www.apple.com/macosx/) and the sub-pages linked on the top (including the 250 new features) and nowhere does it say anything about dropping Rosetta/PowerPC compatibility. A simple compatibility line in the tech specs page could help these kinds of threads. Nevertheless, the argument that Apple should have made this change more prominent is quite valid IMO.


Remember that Apple prides itself on being simple so don't expect everyone to be as up to date on compatibility issues as you. With the big uptake of new users in the last couple of years, these kind of questions should be expected, especially since most users are coming from Windows where compatibility is king (I can run apps from 10+ years ago with almost no issues).


Complicating the issue further is that there is no obvious way to see which older applications are PPC and which are not (who knew Warcraft 3 was PPC and not universal??).


A simple solution could be for Apple to provide copy of Rosetta that users can purchase if they want compatibility. Who knows, maybe such a solution is going to come from a third party

Jul 21, 2011 10:28 AM in response to tomsliwowski

I agree that a single line in the tech specs could be useful, if people read them.


However, the OP (and anyone else having this particular issue) are not, by definition, new to Apple or Macs. To upgrade to Lion, the OP must have Snow Leopard. Rosetta was no longer installed by default under Snow Leopard, so the OP had to install it at some point and then would know that it was required to run PowerPC software. The very existence of Rosetta has been signaling for several years the eventual demise of support for PowerPC applications.

I am getting a message "can't open because PowerPC applications are no longer supported" What do I do about these programs?

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