This is a special alert notice to all of our customers and friends.

Apple has just released its next generation operating system, LION. It is packed with more than 250 new features and the preview versions look awesome. With this new release, Apple has made some design decisions that will affect many of our clients and the software applications they use.

We know many of you will have ‘itchy fingers’ to purchase and download the new OS. PLEASE WAIT! Being the first does sometimes mean you get to find all the surprises first as well. We will not only heavily test the software ourselves but be sure to let you all know when it is safe to use, what issues you might experience and how to resolve incompatibilities, as well as hopefully save you time and money by preventing you from having to experience the problems yourselves.

There are many known issues with the new OS which will take time to iron out with software updates, both from Apple and third party developers.

Some apps that will NEVER run in OSX Lion:

• Microsoft Office 2004
• Quicken 2007 and earlier
• All versions of Quickbooks prior to 2011
• All versions of Filemaker Pro prior to 2011
• All versions of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign prior to CS5

Some apps that run in Lion but with known issues at this time:

• Microsoft Office 2008
• Microsoft Office 2011
• Quickbooks 2011
• Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign CS5

One thing to consider is that if you are thinking about buying a new Mac, you might purchase one now. This way you can be sure that everything will run properly in Snow Leopard, prior to upgrading to Lion in the future.

It is our recommendation to our clients that everyone wait until we have tested Lion thoroughly and can provide comprehensive support for Apple’s latest and greatest OS ever!

The transition from Leopard to Snow Leopard was a seamless upgrade for almost everyone due to the similarities between the two operating systems. However, Snow Leopard to Lion, is a completely different animal: From the change in installation method, to the highly modified user-interface, to the lack of “Rosetta”—which is why a lot of applications (such as Quicken) won’t work without an upgrade, if ever. Note: Rosetta allows applications made for the older PowerPC processors to run on the newer Intel chips which Apple switched to several years ago.

Here is a website that addresses the compatibility issues directly:
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

So, stay tuned and we’ll continue to keep you up-to-date and safely working without trouble.

As always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions or issues.