Did I make a mistake upgrading to ML? Count the costs!
Talk about your string of circumstances. All I really needed was to eliminate hum from the soundtrack of an oral-history video recording. The simplest solution seemed to be to update iMovie. I was using '09, which has virtually no capability to edit audio.
Well, when I tried to download iMovie '11 I learned that it would not work with Snow Leopard. Since I'd been considering upgrading for some time (but NOT read any fine print), I back-tracked and downloaded Mountain Lion. Then I downloaded and installed iMovie '11.
THEN, I noticed thosse funny marks in my dock. When I tried these icons I got the dreaded message "You can't open the application [AppName] because PowerPC applications are no longer supported."
Apps effected: Adobe CS2; Adobe Bridge; Microsoft Office (2004); Epson Scan.
This was brand-new news to me. I have tried to find out what if anything I can do about the loss of these apps (everyone of them legally-purchased items), and apparently I'm just without alternatives. Current version of CS6, about $600. Cheapest MS Office, $80. This is a BAD TRADE for a $20 OS upgrade!
And Epson Scan? There's one for the books. Epson sends me to the Apple Store, saying that is the only place to get an upgrade. Apple Store sees no problems, and informs me that there are no upgrades available or needed. System Preferences/Print & Scan sees the scanner, so that's not the problem.
About the internal optical drive: Before the OSX upgrade, the drive was working nominally. I know, because I burned a number of disks within the last week or two. Now? The drive appears to recognize music CDs, but it WILL NOT recognize blank disk media. I have tried both Toast Titanium 7 (most recent) and since that wouldn't work I tried OSX's native disk burning function. In neither case will the drive admit that it has a blank disk inserted. I just ruminates for 15-20 seconds and spits the disk out.
I also have an older Plextor external optical drive. But Apple Support itself gives completely mixed counsel regarding whether or not Mountain Lion can be used with an external optical drive. One place says it will work; another place tells you to use a networked computer's optical drive (!); many other places say an external drive won't work at all. Hey Apple, make up your mind!
Now, I'm sure somewhere in fine legal print they informed me that PowerPC apps would no longer work with ML. But that information was well-hidden, and did not surface in any professional reviews I read. So these behaviors were a complete surprise to me, and not the pleasant sort.
Needless to say, I'm left feeling really ill-used by Apple. Sure, I've got an up-to-date operating system, but now I'm left counting the costs. And so should you. The technically-oriented in this community will perhaps sneer at my naivete. But you need to recognize that not all Apple clients are technically up to your standards. Give us a break!! [I myself have been using PCs intensively since the second-generation IBM PC in the late 1970's.]
I'm ticked. In case it's not obvious. And feeling let down by Apple. And I've been a cheer-leader for them for many years.
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), PowerPC apps, internal optical drv
