Snow Leopard Security Update Kills PowerPC Apps Using Rosetta

[colinsky]

I'm not a bitter clinger...

I use Lion on my MacBook Pro, but I've remained with Snow Leopard on my desktop because of my multiple-monitor setup. I use Microsoft Word 2011 on the laptop but I don't like it. I've been using Word 2004 in Snow Leopard. I'm a writer by trade and all I want to do is type on the page. Each new version of Word is more bloated than ever, and I see no advantage in updating.

I've been waiting patiently for Pages 10/11/12... to no avail. I hate Word in general and wish I could go back to Word 98.

After I write a page I can do anything I want with it in CS5. I run Lion on a separate internal disk on my Mac Pro whenever there's an update or if I need a to use a Lion feature.

I'm not a Neanderthal claiming stone knives and bearskins are the apex of technology. I'm just steamed about losing half a day to bug-chasing before I booted from an alternate Snow Leopard drive that does not have the latest security update. Leaving me and my data in great peril, no doubt.

 

[ProBill]

First the 10.7.3 "CUI CUI CUI ? ? ? ? ?" errors with Application crashes...

Now this...Application crashes on Rosetta in Snow Leopard...

What is Apple coming to? Do we need Jobs back?

I am not sure that bringing Jobs back would help. Apple has a secretive, strong personality driven type of culture. Look at the org chart and you will see that the emphasis is:

1) VP of Internet s/w (iTunes and iCloud)
2) VP of iOS software (iPhone and iPad)
3) VP of Hardware (probably everything)
4) VP of the usual corporate positions (Sales, buildings, etc.)

Where is non-iOS software support and strategy? Where is Logic support and strategy? Where is Rosetta (legacy) support? If the iPhone or iPad does not host it, Apple doesn't care. If it doesn't generate (new threshold) 30% profit, Apple doesn't care (look out iMac!). If they do not care, then you will not find anyone working on it. Apple appears to have become a phone, music distribution, and book publishing company. Imagine if you are working there. If you are not working on iPhone, iPad, iBook, iTunes, or iCloud, your career will be in the dumps. That is how that kind of culture works. Now maybe Tim Cook may turn that around, but it doesn't look like it.

 

[MacsRgr8]

In 2005 Apple announced the PPC to Intel transition.

In 2006 this transition was final. No more new PPC Macs.

In 2006 the "Universal Binary" OS, Mac OS X 10.5 was introduced.
PPC and Intel supported.

In 2008 the Intel-only OS, Mac OS X 10.6 was introduced.
PPC dropped, Rosetta introduced to make it possible to still use PPC apps.

In 2010 the 64 bits Intel only, OS X 10.7 was introduced.
Time to eliminate PPC apps.

Now, it's 2012.
A security update for 10.6 seems to destroy Rosette support.

6 years after the PPC to Intel transition, Apple seems to eliminate PPC apps via Rosetta support on 10.6

Time to move on, or get a real PPC and run 10.5.

 

[314631]

My top tip for anyone thinking of moving from Snow Leopard to Lion is don't go into it believing you're performing an upgrade. You're probably going to be left feeling sorely disappointed at the end of the process.

If like me you loved Leopard and Snow Leopard, I'd try to stick with the latter for as long as you can. Or you may end up transitioning your expensive iMac into a Windows 7 PC as I just did with my 27" i5 iMac.

 

[moore2772]

Thank you!

One of the best (or maybe it IS the best....) things about this site is that it provides a heads-up for software updates with unintended negative consequences. Most of my Macs are on Lion now, but I still have some with Snow Leopard and even Tiger in order to run legacy apps, especially Quicken. I would be one very unhappy puppy if I had installed that flawed security update. I hope there will come an equally useful notice posted here that a patch has been released in the way of a revised security update.
The moral- Always, and I mean always check here before installing software updates!

 

[MacNut]

Why is Apple killing Rosetta in Snow Leopard? Many aren't going to Lion because of Rosetta and legacy apps.

I am not moving to Lion because it is a slow piece of **** that is dumbing down the OS.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Sure

Apple should just draw a line in the sand, already. Any powerPC software will no longer be supported. I don't want to see them follow Redmond's policy of supporting all legacy apps. Stay nimble.

... if Apple lets us emulate SL on Fusion and Parallels. I would be more inclined to think about upgrading to Lion if SL could be emulated with Apple's sanction (I realize SL works with the latest release of Fusion 4, but we will see how long it lasts). Why not let us emulate SL if we need/want to?

 

[BigPrince]

In 2005 Apple announced the PPC to Intel transition.

In 2006 this transition was final. No more new PPC Macs.

In 2006 the "Universal Binary" OS, Mac OS X 10.5 was introduced.
PPC and Intel supported.

In 2008 the Intel-only OS, Mac OS X 10.6 was introduced.
PPC dropped, Rosetta introduced to make it possible to still use PPC apps.

In 2010 the 64 bits Intel only, OS X 10.7 was introduced.
Time to eliminate PPC apps.

Now, it's 2012.
A security update for 10.6 seems to destroy Rosette support.

6 years after the PPC to Intel transition, Apple seems to eliminate PPC apps via Rosetta support on 10.6

Time to move on, or get a real PPC and run 10.5.

You have completely missed the point, go away.

 

[0dev]

In 2005 Apple announced the PPC to Intel transition.

In 2006 this transition was final. No more new PPC Macs.

In 2006 the "Universal Binary" OS, Mac OS X 10.5 was introduced.
PPC and Intel supported.

In 2008 the Intel-only OS, Mac OS X 10.6 was introduced.
PPC dropped, Rosetta introduced to make it possible to still use PPC apps.

In 2010 the 64 bits Intel only, OS X 10.7 was introduced.
Time to eliminate PPC apps.

Now, it's 2012.
A security update for 10.6 seems to destroy Rosette support.

6 years after the PPC to Intel transition, Apple seems to eliminate PPC apps via Rosetta support on 10.6

Time to move on, or get a real PPC and run 10.5.

Lion came out in 2010?

 

[adder7712]

I really don't want to be that guy but it seems intentional...

But let's disregard that and hope Apple will fix it. My upgrade to Lion did kill a couple of Rosetta apps.

 

[coolspot18]

6 years after the PPC to Intel transition, Apple seems to eliminate PPC apps via Rosetta support on 10.6

Time to move on, or get a real PPC and run 10.5.

6 years is too short for something so critical to be dropped. Look at Windows XP, Microsoft has tried to drop it for years, but people cling onto it 10 years later. However, you have to give Microsoft credit - stuff is generally compatible between versions of Windows, Windows XP apps for the most part work fine on Windows 7...

Apple could have mitigated the issue by bundling a virtual machine with Lion, like what Microsoft did with Windows 7?

 

[Nostromo]

Apple's QC has completely gone to ****.

"it just works"

...except when it doesnt...

some recent bugs that come to mind:
- Snow Leopard Security Update kills PowerPC apps
- Mac OS 10.7.3 CUI error
- Apple TV 2 Homesharing

I have Final Draft 6 which needs Rosetta, and a beloved chess game which only runs under Rosetta.

Which is why I won't update until this bug is fixed.

It's really amazing that a company, whose customers gave it a 6.6 Billion dollar profit in Q4 2011 cannot put in enough care to test its software updates.

Had I updated, Apple would have caused me a loss of at least $200 for buying new software (which does the same as the old).

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Apple should make a Disk Repair PART OF THE UPDATE!

Running Disk Repair on the System Volume requires that you boot from the installation DVD, USB Flash Drive or another Hard Drive in order to fix any errors. Making it part of the update is not a possible approach at this time. I think Apple is in the process of implementing this on their new Macs, so at some point they will be able to automate it.

Running Disk Repair and Repair Permissions is a task that users should be aware of, and take the time to maintain their Macs. It's not like Windows where you have to waste a lot of time repairing and scanning for viruses, so this shouldn't be a big task to do.

 

[cjmillsnun]

It's the dumbest reason I've ever heard for having to upgrade an OS. iCloud supports Vista, after all. Not like it needs the newest processor or anything. Geez.

and any PC that can run Vista will be able to run 8. MS haven't upgraded their minimum specs for a long time.

----------

6 years is too short for something so critical to be dropped. Look at Windows XP, Microsoft has tried to drop it for years, but people cling onto it 10 years later. However, you have to give Microsoft credit - stuff is generally compatible between versions of Windows, Windows XP apps for the most part work fine on Windows 7...

Apple could have mitigated the issue by bundling a virtual machine with Lion, like what Microsoft did with Windows 7?

Apple don't own a VM technology. MS do. That's why they can bundle an XP VM with 7. Also Legacy support is something that has caused massive problems for MS. The reason Vista was so poor? Legacy support. It took them another 3 years to fix it.

 

[steviewhy]

An update to fix the Rosetta issue is now available on Software Update Security Update 2012-001 vers 1.1. Seems to work.

 

[subsonix]

An update to fix the Rosetta issue is now available on Software Update Security Update 2012-001 vers 1.1. Seems to work.

Ditto, just got a notice about that as well.

----------

And.. installed!

 

[KPOM]

Why is Apple killing Rosetta in Snow Leopard? Many aren't going to Lion because of Rosetta and legacy apps.

Most of us don't think it was intentional. The Lion update went out with a bug, and it undoubtedly got a lot more testing than the Snow Leopard update. We think it was a matter of bad QC on the part of Apple. It appears that it has already been fixed.

 

[polaris20]

Yeah, and that was Apple's fault. AppleWorks had nothing wrong with it, it was a perfect suite. There is no reason Apple should not support it. Pages is a page layout app, not a word processing app like that function in AppleWorks is.

You must also realize when you have 10,000+ AppleWorks files on your machine, it's not that easy to convert them all to another App (like pages) and risk formatting errors or losing information. Just not worth it...

It's Apple's fault? There's a lot of software that's discontinued that works well; it's the way things go in technology.

And I don't have to realize anything. I've been through enough painful migrations of network-wide applications and infrastructures to know exactly what a pain it can be to move from obsolete stuff to current stuff. It is what it is. Again, Apple's not unique here. It's not an accuse, it's just the way it is with tech companies.

 

[KPOM]

An update to fix the Rosetta issue is now available on Software Update Security Update 2012-001 vers 1.1. Seems to work.

Great news! I had been reluctant to update the Snow Leopard Server that I have running in a VM on my 2011 MacBook Air.

 

[krzyglue]

Whoa. Thats really consumer friendly. "Hey there Snow Leopard user. Even though you are really happy with you Mac and the software that runs on it, you need to buy our new software. Or we are going to remove functionality until you have a £1000 paperweight sat on your desk."

Is that seriously what you're implying? People need to always get the latest Apple gear to be able to do anything? Because aside from it being very inaccurate (I'm sure this Rosetta deal was just an example of Apple's dizzy Q&A department nowadays), but I'm sure if Apple were to undertake such an attitude and practice, many once happy Apple users will be switching to Windows. I know I would be, I don't want to have a constant flow of cash going to Apple just so I can continue doing what I've always done on my computer.

Your attitude never ceases to amaze me. Do you seriously believe what you have posted there? Buy Lion or else? Give me a break.

Seriously, I actually *really* like SL as an OS. In fact, I didn't even pay for Lion (free upgrade) and even still don't think the features were worth it! If it weren't for iCloud, I'd downgrade to SL in a heartbeat. It just never ever gave me problems.

 

[2stepbay]

Apple today released a revision of this Security Update. Now v 1.1 available in Software Update.

 

[Nostromo]

An update to fix the Rosetta issue is now available on Software Update Security Update 2012-001 vers 1.1. Seems to work.

So, those who haven't upgraded yet can do so without losing PPC apps?

 

[firewood]

Where is Rosetta (legacy) support?

Rosetta isn't something Apple develops. It's licensed tech. Developed by UofManchester and Transitive Corp. But IBM acquired Transitive several years ago. Does anyone know if IBM is still supports and licenses this tech at all?

 

[Larry-K]

In 2005 Apple announced the PPC to Intel transition.

In 2006 this transition was final. No more new PPC Macs.

In 2006 the "Universal Binary" OS, Mac OS X 10.5 was introduced.
PPC and Intel supported.

In 2008 the Intel-only OS, Mac OS X 10.6 was introduced.
PPC dropped, Rosetta introduced to make it possible to still use PPC apps.

In 2010 the 64 bits Intel only, OS X 10.7 was introduced.
Time to eliminate PPC apps.

Now, it's 2012.
A security update for 10.6 seems to destroy Rosette support.

6 years after the PPC to Intel transition, Apple seems to eliminate PPC apps via Rosetta support on 10.6

Time to move on, or get a real PPC and run 10.5.

Why Screw up Snow Leopard? If you want something that doesn't work, Lion is available, leave Snow Leopard functioning for those of us that actually make a living on a MacPro and don't just use it to sync a phone.

And I still have a Real PPC: the 2.5 Quad, and it still runs great (No Leaks), just has a sucky video card.

I did buy a new Mac with Lion on it, but I don't let it talk to the work computers.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Out of not wanting to pay Apple twice for Lion (given that I'm going to sell the Mac mini I'm using here and replace it with a MacBook Pro which will come with Lion pre-installed), I am still rocking an otherwise up-to-date installation of Snow Leopard with the aforementioned security update installed.

I opened Microsoft Word 2004, albeit, it's fully patched and as up-to-date with updates as Office 2004 can really be today. It seemed to run just fine. I'll certainly have to see what (if anything) happens when I try to play Diablo II.