OS X Lion drops PowerPC support

Those looking to upgrade to OS X Lion should check their own favorite programs first. (Dan Kitwood - GETTY IMAGES)

You may want to slow down before making the switch to Apple’s OS X Lion and do an inventory check of their favorite programs first.

As Ars Technica’s John Siracusa points out in his ridiculously comprehensive review, Lion is the first Apple operating system that has no support for PowerPC programs , i.e. programs for the Mac that predate its switch a few years ago to Intel processors.

Siracusa flags at least one unsupported application that could irk users — Quicken 2007. The financial software has yet to release a full-blown Mac version, though it does have an “Essentials for Mac” program with some of Quicken’s basic functionality.

To find out which of your computer’s programs are PowerPC or require Rosetta head to your System Profiler, click on Software and go get a cup of coffee while your computer takes an inventory of applications. The list should bring up which applications are Intel, which and PowerPC and which are Universal.

If you haven’t upgraded your software to Intel’s structure, you may not be the kind of early adopter who’s going to pounce on Lion on the first day either. Then again, it can be a pain to transfer and upgrade data, and I know I’m particularly touchy about messing around with a good thing where my financial data is concerned.

Are there other PowerPC programs that will keep you using older versions of OS X?

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