Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Apple OS X–Lion Compatibility Info

Image Copyright (c) Apple

As of the time I’m writing this, it is rumored that Apple’s next major operating system upgrade of OS X (10.7 – code name Lion) is due to be released very soon. As a result, the burning question will be – should I upgrade? Here’s some things to consider if you use these products…

Nik Software

Here’s what Nik Software has to say about Lion:

Apple is expected to release the latest version of Mac OS X, version 10.7 Lion, sometime this month. We've been working with developer release versions and want to notify you that we've found an issue installing some of our plug-ins into Photoshop CS5 after you've updated to Lion.

If you have already installed your Nik Software plug-ins into Photoshop CS5 prior to updating to Lion, the plug-ins will continue to work without issue. There are also no issues installing our plug-ins into Lightroom or Aperture on a Mac running OS 10.7 Lion and no issues installing HDR Efex Pro into any host application.

However, the current installers for Dfine 2.0, Viveza 2, Color Efex Pro 3.0, Silver Efex Pro 2, and Sharpener Pro 3.0 are not able to install into Photoshop CS5 on a Mac running OS 10.7 Lion. This issue will affect both new and re-installations of these plug-ins.

Our engineers have already begun working on a fix for the installers and we intend to start releasing these free updates this month. Each update will be released in succession, starting with Silver Efex Pro 2 and we will notify registered owners via email.

If you do find yourself needing assistance, please don't hesitate to contact our support team. Thank you for your continued support!

The Nik Team

onOne Software 

All onOne Software products must be deactivated before installing Lion and PhotoTools will not work until an update becomes available. PhotoFrame will only work in stand-alone mode. I would encourage ALL onOne Software users who want to use Lion to read this statement.

Alien Skin Software

Only minor issues exist and updates are available. Read here to learn more.

X-Rite

Of all the products I know of so far, the worst impacted seems to be X-Rite (especially those running Monaco, ProfileMaker, and i1Match software. ALL X-Rite users should read this page and DO NOT upgrade until you understand the ramifications.

What About Others Like Photoshop, Lightroom, etc…?

I’ll report back as I hear more from other companies, but in the meantime here’s a good Wiki that has a lot of other apps with reports of their status on Lion.

UPDATE: Here’s another great wiki specific to Photographers with compat info from my friends at Chromix.

Ron’s Advice

I’m going to hold off for a bit to see how things shake out before I upgrade. While I’m sure Lion will be a nice upgrade, Apple has gotten a large enough installed base and application support now to feel the pain that Microsoft goes through when upgrading Windows. This means you don’t know what you don’t know, but when it hits the streets some nasty bugs are sure to be discovered. Once things settle down I’ll upgrade my Mac’s, but until then I’m going to let it bake for a while longer.

I suggest that you consider a similar strategy and wait until your apps are confirmed to work or be updated before taking the plunge.

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