For those of you using Apple’s Mac OS, the newest operating system, Mountain Lion, is publicly available today for download through the App Store for $20. Before you download, Roaring Apps has the intel on which versions of different software are ready for the new OS (version 10.8). A quick summary of the more popular drawing/image apps are below. A list of new features being added to the OS are available at Apple.com.
| Software | Lion (10.7) | Mountain Lion (10.8) |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Photoshop CS6 | Fine | Fine |
| Adobe Illustrator CS5 | Some problems | Some problems |
| Sketchbook Pro | Fine | Status Unknown |
| Sketchbook Express | Fine | Fine |
| Pixelmator | Fine | Fine |
| Adobe Photoshop Elements | Fine | Unknown |
Utilities:
| Software | Lion (OS 10.7) | Mountain Lion (OS 10.8) |
|---|---|---|
| Dropbox | Fine | Fine |
| Fine | Fine | |
| Transmit | Fine | Fine |
How would Photoshop 5.0 for Mac work?
That’s a serious question–how would old, pre OS X versions of Photoshop or Illustrator, work on todays Macs?
Thanks for the list.
@ Jim: Something as old as Photoshop 5 would have been coded for PowerPC processors, which Macs no longer use. Apps written in code for PowerPC computers were previously run through Rosetta (an interpreter) on Intel-based Macs so they could remain backward compatible. Rosetta was eliminated from the Mac OS starting with 10.7 Lion. So none of those older apps coded to run on Power PC machines will run at all on today’s Macs.
Photoshop 5 is not remotely “old” – it works on any modern Mac, however, it certainly does NOT work on older PowerPC Macs.
So Photoshop 5 *should* work fine on Mountain Lion, imho.
Dave: unless I’m misunderstanding you, Photoshop CS 5 is Version 12.0 from 2010-ish. Photoshop 5 (Version 5.0) is from 1998-ish, which is not only old but downright ancient. Jim mentioned he’s referring to pre-OS X, which puts it squarely in the Precambrian era. 😉
Kelly: I was going to say “antediluvian”, but “Precambrian” works as well.
Anything pre-OS X–that is, classic MacOS–hasn’t been supported since the arrival of the Intel Macs. The Classic environment, which let MacOS 9 run under OS X, depended on the PowerPC and was never updated for Intel. And, PowerPC apps will no longer run in emulation since Snow Leopard.
In short, you’re not wringing any more value out of those old apps. Time to update… 😀