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How to update PowerPC apps after installing Lion OS X?

I need to update my PowerPC apps after installing Lion OS X, and if not find a way to run them on Lion using a patch, emulator, converter or otherwise? All help appreciated, thanks for reading. Please note, I do not curretny have a hard-copy of Lion or Snow Leopard.


I feel Apple has really let its users down by creating all these compatiblity problems. Myself along ith many other Mac users have to spend valuable time and money, which we won't get back just trying tto find solutions to these problems. It really does lower my opinion of Apple.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3), iTunes

Posted on Feb 27, 2012 4:10 AM

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15 replies

Feb 27, 2012 4:29 AM in response to darkhorse85

Its called moving forward. Its down to the creators of the PPC software to update them to work on Lion, not Apple. Rosette wasn't even installed by default on SL so that showed the days of PPC were numbered.


I always check that my applications are compatible with a new OS before installing it, even on Windows.

Feb 27, 2012 4:41 AM in response to darkhorse85

darkhorse85 wrote:


I need to update my PowerPC apps after installing Lion OS X, and if not find a way to run them on Lion using a patch, emulator, converter or otherwise? All help appreciated, thanks for reading. Please note, I do not curretny have a hard-copy of Lion or Snow Leopard.


I feel Apple has really let its users down by creating all these compatiblity problems. Myself along ith many other Mac users have to spend valuable time and money, which we won't get back just trying tto find solutions to these problems. It really does lower my opinion of Apple.

Use your System Discs you got with your computer and return your system to it's previous state with your last Time Machine Backup. If you were on Snow Leopard and have lost your discs then ring Apple and you can probably get a replacement set for a nominal fee.


Good Luck


Pete

Feb 27, 2012 6:59 AM in response to darkhorse85

The transition of the Mac platform to Intel processors was announced in 2005, and completed in 2006. For the next five years, there was an emulation layer in the OS so that applications built only for PowerPC processors could continue to be used while developers caught up. That transition period is now over. PowerPC applications don't work in Lion and can't be made to work. Your choices are to stay with earlier OS versions, as long as your hardware lasts; to update the applications to Intel-compatible versions; or to migrate to other applications.

Feb 27, 2012 8:53 AM in response to Linc Davis

>PowerPC applications don't work in Lion and can't be made to work.

I wouldn't say "can't be made to work." Developers who choose not to update their applications are the ones leaving their users behind. And Petermac has the right idea. Even if you don't have a backup, you can always install an older operating system, if it is supported for that Mac on an external hard drive. Macs basically have always been designated as only able to run the Mac operating system that came with them (typically the one that is current at the time of their manufacture), and newer to the limit of the hardware. What would be helpful in your migration, is to find out if there are equivalent less expensive applications you can get to open your documents, or if the cost of getting the original discs/and external hard drive is worth it to proceed on your migration. So please communicate to us which you need, and if you are able to or unable to proceed down one path or the other.

Feb 27, 2012 5:52 PM in response to Niel

Even so, Mac OS X Server can't run all the same applications as Mac OS X client in as easy a manner as running Mac OS X client, and it costs significantly more than just buying an older Mac that has Snow Leopard pre-installed, or trading in to one that does that is used or refurbished. See my FAQ* on used and refurbished Macs:


http://www.macmaps.com/usedrefurbished.html

Feb 27, 2012 5:55 PM in response to bbfc

bbfc wrote:


darkhorse85 wrote:


The scornful comment made by "bbfc"

Scornful? I was just stating the facts. You should check if your applications are compatible with a new OS before upgrading, especially if you rely heavily on those applications.


... and 'abuse' is a bit strong isn't it. 😕

I have seen posts that have said worse than that 😀

May 18, 2012 10:07 AM in response to petermac87

I agree with darkhorse. All the hype about must move to the cloud/must upgrade to Lion etc. How about also stating that the apps you have worked with and stored for years will not work with the product. I did not move because I have 15 years of data on quicken and need to refer back to it. Don't want to print a rainforest of paper to do it. I did not realize that I would lose all my word documents/excel spreadsheets etc. Had I known, I would not have upgraded to Lion period. Now I need to go back to snow leopard somehow. very disappointed. Lion does nothing for me worth this aggravation.

May 18, 2012 11:43 AM in response to sydneyth

Neo Office, OpenOffice, Zoho Docs, and Google Docs all over free to nearly free solutions for Excel, Word and Powerpoint on Lion. You don't need to downgrade to Snow Leopard to achieve compatibility for those formats.

If you dependended on Entourage for your mail, and used it for POP or local storage of Exchange mail, you have one of two options, Upgrade to Office 2011, or install 10.6 on an external hard drive and connect to a Mac that supports it. In the 10.6 install solution, you then move your Users -> yourname -> Documents -> Microsoft User data over and install your older version of Office on that drive. From there you can export it to more compatible formats as outlined here*:

http://www.macmaps.com/entouragemigration.html

Sadly color labels while supported in Lion, are no longer sortable in Lion. This is a known bug in Mac OS X Mail. Hopefully some other Mail program will support that kind of categorization soon, if not already. A lot of people like Thunderbird for Mail, though I haven't tried it in ages. But once it is compatible with Mail, it is easy enough to import it into Thunderbird. You can use Mail while booted back into Lion to reimport the Mail that got stuck in Entourage.

Quicken by the way is now Lion compatible.

If there is something else that isn't Lion compatible, check for alternatives here. If you still can't find an alternative for a specific application, don't be afraid to ask.

How to update PowerPC apps after installing Lion OS X?

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