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NewsPoster · Jul 26, 2012, 04:46 PM

With any new OS revision, the community's general tendency is often "upgrade first, ask questions about compatibility later." The excitement of obtaining the latest OS and its new features sometimes interferes with normal "best practices." While Microsoft has recently announced both Office 2008 and 2011 are compatible with Mountain Lion with patches, a handful of high-profile applications are not yet compatible with Cupertino's latest OS, which may lead to headaches with productivity, or just everyday computing tasks for hasty upgraders.

According to report aggregator RoaringApps, popular games such as Assassin's Creed II, architectural leader Autocad Mac 2013, the Citrix ICA client, SMB/CIFS supporting software DAVE 9.0, the Iron Mountain secure backup utility v8.6 and QuickTime video codec package Perian fail to function on Mountain Lion, even though each worked in Lion. Apple does provide guidance in the event of a failed boot attempt after install, but it does require delving into some troubleshooting steps, rather than automatic elimination of any problem items. In mission-critical installs, MacNN recommends that a full and bootable clone of the hard drive's existing system and software be created prior to any significant OS update. This usually allows for a full restore in the event of a failure of vital software following install. In addition, users should apply every available upgrade for installed software prior to the new OS installation. Mountain Lion does automatically attempt to "quarantine" incompatible applications or low-level kernel extensions that don't work properly, but in some instances misidentified software could prevent completion of the upgrade process, leaving a non-functional OS install in its wake. In the case of a truly critical machine where failure or delay costs a significant amount of time or money, MacNN recommends waiting at least a week to allow late developers to get their updates out, or not upgrading at all in the short term. Software like the excised Xgrid will not be replaced by Apple, and other vendors of older software may not provide a compatibility upgrade at all. The golden master (final version) of Mountain Lion was made available to developers only two weeks ago, which with some companies didn't allow for sufficient pre-release testing on the retail-complete version of Mountain Lion. Prior OS upgrades have a history of catching some developers and users off-guard in terms of unforeseen compatibility issues, but time -- along with a "rollback" clone backup -- generally mitigates the teething problems of the new OS quickly.

Salty · Jul 26, 2012, 06:33 PM

FreeHand wasn't Intel which would have meant it stopped working with all the other PPC apps with Lion.

Titanium Man · Jul 26, 2012, 06:59 PM

Oh, great. And right after the developers announced Perian wouldn't be updated anymore. They won't even commit to whether the upcoming final release will be compatible with Mountain Lion.

blahblahbber · Jul 26, 2012, 11:58 PM

Apple hasn't made any real strides in the latest OS releases.... so why would any developer for that matter? All the focus apple has now is on iOS; MAC OSX is stagnant as we know it. 10.6 will live on as a legend. Developers should try a new platform like Linux, it needs more focus.... it will be the future of computing, IMO. Apple wants to be the gateway to all computing (READ: Data ... to become the Google replacement), they may even buy out future network bands and satellites; its getting cheaper to get your own satellite in space nowadays. Forcing Developers into terms and marketing schemes & introducing failed services (PING... etc.) is more than a hint, they want it all to themselves. The apple data pipeline wants to grow exponentially, and will ultimately compete with Facebook another time in the future.

Ron Goodman · Jul 27, 2012, 02:39 AM

I had to upgrade to Parallels 7, as version 6 no longer works with Mountain Lion.

msuper69 · Jul 27, 2012, 04:53 AM

Thanks for the funny!

DrSkywalker · Jul 27, 2012, 06:11 AM

I don't buy it. Developers should be on top of this if they're serious developers. Isn't that their job? Didn't they have months and months of warning. Gold master comes out - then shouldn't they be hard at it to ensure a smooth transition? IMHO if they're not serious enough to support the OS, then they shouldn't be in the game and I would seek alternatives.

Interlard · Jul 27, 2012, 06:23 AM

Wow. Although I'm grateful to RoaringApps for the information, it's virtually impossible to read. Click to see just incompatible apps and the results are still spread across 32 pages: showing only ~5 on the first page. Type into the search box and it doesn't filter the list, it shows a list of search results from all the pages on the website. Does anyone know of an easier to read list with incompatible apps listed on 1 page? This would be very useful to track before I choose to upgrade to ML.

Grendelmon · Jul 27, 2012, 07:16 AM

Originally Posted by DrSkywalker

I don't buy it. Developers should be on top of this if they're serious developers. Isn't that their job? Didn't they have months and months of warning. Gold master comes out - then shouldn't they be hard at it to ensure a smooth transition? IMHO if they're not serious enough to support the OS, then they shouldn't be in the game and I would seek alternatives.

Haha... thanks for the Friday laugh. Clearly you don't work in the software business.

testudo · Jul 27, 2012, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by DrSkywalker

I don't buy it. Developers should be on top of this if they're serious developers. Isn't that their job? Didn't they have months and months of warning. Gold master comes out - then shouldn't they be hard at it to ensure a smooth transition? IMHO if they're not serious enough to support the OS, then they shouldn't be in the game and I would seek alternatives.

Yes, because developers have nothing at all better to do than anxiously await every OS seed from Apple, install it, and then test all their software. Because the one thing we know about software developers, they have nothing but free time. Plus, we all know Apple never does anything stupid or irritating and change things at the last minute. So they should have been getting things to work as of developer preview 1 and we'd all be happy now!

Then again, who are the idiots who are updating their machines to Mountain Lion without knowing if their software will be compatible? Then again, why would anyone upgrade to Mountain lion? (well, I guess if you're stuck with lion, it's supposed to be better...).

testudo · Jul 27, 2012, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by NewsPoster

In the case of a truly critical machine where failure or delay costs a significant amount of time or money, MacNN recommends waiting at least a week to allow late developers to get their updates out, or not upgrading at all in the short term.

Um, why would anyone upgrade a critical machine at all? If it's critical, you use what's there, people. You don't take chances that an upgrade isn't going to break something. At best, you use a secondary machine and update that, then verify everything you do.

The golden master (final version) of Mountain Lion was made available to developers only two weeks ago, which with some companies didn't allow for sufficient pre-release testing on the retail-complete version of Mountain Lion.

Lame excuse. Two weeks is plenty of time! It isn't like it's the middle of summer vacation season or anything!

Prior OS upgrades have a history of catching some developers and users off-guard in terms of unforeseen compatibility issues

Oh please, that's a lame excuse! We all know developers AND users should be well aware of what Apple is doing and what their plans are and be prepared well in advance!

blahblahbber · Jul 27, 2012, 11:41 AM

Testudo, another direct hit to these sheeple!.... Others can drink apple's koolaid and feel like Apple is always right

blahblahbber · Jul 27, 2012, 11:46 AM

Grendelmon, I don't ever want to tear anyone down, but clearly, you can't see past ur nose...

Spheric Harlot · Jul 27, 2012, 01:27 PM

Didn't we used to ban trolls around these parts?

Charles Martin · Jul 27, 2012, 05:29 PM

I see Trolltudo has invented another sock puppet ... I mean, "friend" ... yawn.

Yeah, I'm sure the second half of 2012 will finally be the year of Linux. Of course it will.

Spheric Harlot · Jul 28, 2012, 02:46 AM

Oh...testudo and the blahblahbber are the same person?

And I thought the half a brain wasn't enough for a single person — now two posters have to share it!?