What will the Lion eat?

It will be hard to overlook that Apple has with big fanfare announced a new version of its operating system. Formally system 10.7, it is nicknamed "Lion", another big cat from Apple. What will this mean for unsuspecting Mac users?

It is major overhaul, and many will appreciate the new features brought to the Mac. For older users, the drawback that you can no longer use certain older program, such as Eudora or AppleWorks, will make you want to hold out as long as possible before changing to Lion.

Point One, do I need to change? Answer: No, not until you buy a new Mac. When you get a new Mac, it will only work with the new system. But until then, you can ignore all that follows, if you like.

However, if you use Apple's online service called MobileMe, previously .Mac and iDisk, then you may have to rethink. These services will run for another year, until the summer of 2012, then they will close down and be replaced with the new iCloud. Apple's small print says "some features" of iCloud will require Lion, without saying whether the service itself will be unavailable to earlier systems. Rumour mills point out that at least automatic backup (below) is not possible with older systems. That is likely to affect the current storage facility iDisk, and certainly any new feature of iCloud will require the new system. But it is not clear whether it will also apply to the existing synchronization of iCal, Safari and Address Book. Nevertheless, it is possible that if you want to use these, then you will have to upgrade your system software at the latest by the summer of 2012.

Point Two, can I upgrade to Lion with my current Mac, or do I need a new computer? By and large, if your Mac was bought in 2007 or later, you can install Lion on it, if it is much older it will not work. It looks at the processor chip inside, it must be of the type Intel Core 2 Duo [both 2 and Duo] or newer. This was introduced in 2006, my MacBook of the type "Late 2006" has one. You will see this information in "About this Mac" under the apple menu. It should also have 2 GB memory or more. Notice that you can only install Lion from the previous system 10.6 (Snow Leopard), check About This Mac to see what you now have. If your current machine uses system 10.5 or older, you must first purchase system disks for 10.6 (about $30, mostly), install it, and update it to 10.6.8, before you can install Lion.

Point Three, what is good and positive about Lion? From Apple's hype, lots and lots, this is a major new upgrade. Listening to their demo, it struck me that for "regular users", many of the novelties will just be confusing. If you use existing features like "Exposé" and "Spaces" (I use Spaces a lot), then you will be happy with the many new ways to organize your work. If you have never heard or cared about these, then most of the new stuff in Lion is also also likely to leave you cold.

A couple of things did however strike me as interesting even to the "regular user". One is that, for adapted programs, there is no more "Save" command. The program saves your typing and editing automatically and continuously. If you made a mistake and want to go back to what you had earlier, then you can call up an earlier "version" (a bit like today's Time Machine, if you have used it), have new and old side by side, and pick out what you like. That is useful.

       Another useful thing for some, certainly for me and perhaps others who work partly at home and partly at the office, is automatic syncing of documents. All your saved documents are stored at the Apple server called "iCloud", automatically, so you can just stop typing at home, get up and go to the office, and continue typing where you left off. The doc is automatically saved and synced, so that they are identical at home, at the office, or anywhere else that you sign onto iCloud with your account and password.
      Mind you, that will work only in programs that build in this feature, primarily Apple's own iWork program (word processor etc.). It is not known if e.g. Microsoft Word will join this system, as they are working on their own (paid) online service. Other programs from other companies may or may not work in this way.
       Middle Easterners may appreciate that Arabic is now a system language, so that Finder menus etc. will appear in Arabic. We'll see how far that is implemented.

Point Four, what is bad about the Lion? That is perhaps just as important to spell out, as Apple does not boast about that. And we will not know for sure until it is out. However, it seems fairly certain that you will not be able to use older programs under Lion. Older probably means software from before ca. 2006 or 2007. Such clean breaks happen at regular intervals: to keep a computer compatible with old software gets more and more complicated as time goes on and systems are renewed, so every few years, Apple cuts the cord and says, our system will not "support" (i.e., you cannot use) old stuff any more. The last break was the "Classic" (OS 9) software from the 1990s, which was dropped around 2007 or '08. This change here is more insidious, because Classic software looked quite different from modern software, so we saw clearly what is what, now it is much harder to recognize what will work from what will not. Some upgraders may not even have heard about the loss before they stare at their new computer which will not run their favourite programs.

In short, programs such as these will no longer work:
- Microsoft Word and Office 2004. (You need to upgrade to the 2008 or 2011 versions)
- Eudora email
- AppleWorks
- Canvas graphics program
- Freehand graphics
- lots and lots of games, small tools and stuff you may have installed years ago and has become second nature to your work habits.

Many programs are or will be upgraded (such as Word above) so you need just install a new version. However, the others I mentioned are no longer made or sold, and will therefore never be upgraded to Lion. You will then either have to find a different program that does the same job, or forgo the function altogether. (Remember: this will happen when you get a new Mac, as all of us have to do at some time in the future.)

Each one of us has a different set of software. If you are a recently arrived Mac user, then you are probably not affected, and can happy of mind upgrade to Lion. If you have been using a Mac for more than five-six years, then you will most likely have some or many non-upgraded or non-upgradable software, and should check this out before you move on to Lion.

How do you find this out? Well, the distinction is between "PowerPC" and "Intel" software. This relates to the processor chip in the Mac. These two are actually fundamentally different, and it is a bit of Apple magic that we have been using programs written for the old processor and the new together without noticing the difference. No more. So, you must locate what applications for "PowerPC" you have on your Mac. Quickest is to check here:

Go to About this Mac I mentioned above. There is a button "More Info", click on it. You get huge list with everything about your computer. Find and click on "Applications". After some seconds you get a long list of everything. Click on the heading "Kind", to sort the items for this. You will find three main kinds (in addition to obsolete "Classic", maybe): Intel, PowerPC and Universal. The last is fine, it works both on old and new, and is probably the largest group. But look at the PowerPC group. Most of these are meaningless names, they are support tools and invisible things, some may also refer to older versions that you have not deleted yet. But look through the names and see if you recognize software that you actually use and need. (You can also, in Finder, click on the icon for any suspect program, choose "Show Info", it will say: "Kind: Application ([PowerPC, Intel, or Universal]). The latter two are thus fine). If you see a PowerPC item, check if you already have a newer version installed (re-sort under name to find them in the list), or whether upgrades are available in Universal or Intel versions. If not, you will have a quandry to sort out, whether to hold out as long as possible with the system you have, or you want to prepare for the afterlife of that software already now.

(The webside Roaring Apps also has a large lists Mac applications and their compatiblity with Lion, so you can also check there.)

I suspect that for many people who have used Macs since the 1990s, the sorest point in this list is Eudora. A separate message will therefore deal with this: What do Eudora users do when Lion no longer lets them use their favourite email program?