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Hope you all are doing well. Wanted to send you a note to try and explain what is going on in regards to Apple’s announcements and how they will affect you. If all I do is add confusion I apologize and encourage you to call me. Sometimes this can be spoken better than written, especially for a guy from South Texas. Feel free to email or call me regarding any questions you have. This note is long, I know, took me forever to type it, but the info should help you make the best decisions for what you need to do.

What to upgrade and when to do it…

New hardware, new operating systems, new syncing, new, new, new, what are we to do…

If you are not using MobileMe then you do not have to do anything but you probably will sooner than later.

MobileMe will cease to exist in its current form at the end of June. If you do absolutely nothing you will be able to continue using your email address, whatever@me/mac.com though there seems to be some concern that it will require a different setup in Mail to run. Will probably not know that for certain for a while.

To continue using MobileMe for its syncing capabilities between all of your devices, you will need to upgrade to iCloud. This new offering from Apple will continue to sync your contacts, calendar, and bookmarks as well as some other features. This capability already exist on your iPhones, iPads, and touch iPods if you have upgraded to the latest 5.0 operating system. However your computer will not sync with iCloud unless you upgrade its operating system to OS X 10.7, code named Lion.

If your MobileMe email address is not your main email address and you are not that interested in upgrading to Lion you can still sync your devices by plugging your iPhone, iPad, and iPod into your computer and let iTunes do the syncing. You will need to do this regularly to keep everything in sync. You can also use a Google account to sync some of your stuff. It is not as good as Apple’s cloud but may get you by until you upgrade later.

So you need to upgrade to Lion to use iCloud…

First you need to check your hardware to verify it is compatible with Lion. If not then you will need a new computer or you cannot upgrade and will have to use iCloud another way.

Apple has already announced that OS X 10.8, code name, Mountain Lion, will be released at the end of the summer. It has a different set of hardware requirements. Just because the Mac you have now can run Lion doesn’t mean it will be able to run Mountain Lion. Specifically, the following models can run Lion, but aren’t compatible with the initial developer preview of Mountain Lion:

• 2006 iMacs
• Mid 2007 Mac mini
• 2006 and 2007 Mac Pro
• 2008 (original) MacBook Air
• Early 2008 and earlier MacBook
• 2006 (15-inch and 17-inch) MacBook Pro
• 2006 and 2008 Xserve

Apple has not made an official announcement about which Macs will be able to run Mountain Lion. However, the following models are supported by the initial developer preview version:

• iMac: 2007 and later
• Mac mini: 2009 and later
• Mac Pro: 2008 and later
• MacBook: Late 2008 and later
• MacBook Air: Late 2008 and later
• MacBook Pro: 2007 and later
• Xserve: 2009

If you want iCloud and are not sure about your computer then call me. In some cases you may need additional memory also and we can check that.

Though there have been some issues with Lion, for the most part they seem to have been worked out. If you are using some non-Apple apps you will need to verify they are Lion compatible or have an upgrade to make them compatible. Here are a few of the more common apps:

Microsoft Office – only 2011 is supported by Microsoft. 2008 does work but has some bugs that may or may not interfere with your use. Earlier versions are not worth trying to use or will not work. Best to upgrade to the 2011 version.

Quicken – now has a Lion upgrade of Quicken 2007, just released this week. For those using Quicken Essentials, a disappointing upgrade of Q2007, you can also upgrade your files to Quicken for Lion. Those continuing with Snow Leopard, 10.6, can also get this upgrade. Below are a couple of links to check out this latest upgrade.
FAQ’s:
Lion Compatible Quicken Mac 2007 – Quicken Support
To Purchase:
Quicken® Mac 2007 Personal Finance Software – Mac Financial Software

Adobe Creative Suite – only CS5 is supported by Adobe though earlier versions are running with some bugs that may or may not interfere with your use. CS6 is being rumored to be released anytime now so if you are running CS3 or 4, and need to upgrade to Lion, you might try using the suite you have and wait for CS6.

Adobe upgrade info:
Adobe Says No CS6 Upgrade Discounts from Older CS2, CS3, or CS4 | ProDesignTools

Parallels – must have version 7.

This is just a few of the apps, many others are compatible, just check to make sure the ones you use are.

Backup Backup Backup…

If you are not backing up your computer you need to, especially before doing an operating system upgrade. Call me and we can discuss which avenue will work best for you. Another consideration for you is offsite backup. The priority is to have a local backup in case your computer or the internal drive stop working. Then you use your backup to restore to a new computer or drive. Offsite backups are used in the event something more catastrophic happens such as fire or theft and you lose your computer and backup drive. iCloud is not for offsite backup though some of your stuff can be saved there.

So now what…

The easiest thing for you is to have me come over, check your hardware and backup, and get everything ready for your upgrade and then install it and setup your iCloud. If you want to do all of this yourself call me and I can explain what all you need to do.

Hopefully this helps you understand what all is going on and what you need to do. For those of you upgrading to Lion, we need to get started soon.

We need to get all of this done so you can get back to having fun with your Mac.

Thanks for your time,
Larry

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