What applications are not compatible with MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard"?

Prior to upgrading to MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard", you will need to ensure that any required applications are compatible. Particularly for mission critical Macs, it is always wise to wait for a while and let other people experiment with application compatibility.

The Apple Support Site has posted a short list of software known to be incompatible with MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard", and there are much more comprehensive lists provided by community-generated blogs, the appropriately named Does It Work on Snow Leopard (archived copy), and the always excellent MacInTouch [no longer online] as well.

Do applications written for the PowerPC processor still work in MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" on Intel-based Macs? Are PowerPC-based Macs capable of running MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard"?

Any PowerPC application capable of running via "Rosetta" under MacOS X 10.5 "Leopard" is capable of running under "Snow Leopard" as well. However, Snow Leopard does not install Rosetta by default, so if you have PowerPC applications, it is best to select Rosetta as an optional install when you install the operating system.

If you do not install Rosetta at the same time you install Snow Leopard from the DVD, the operating system will connect to the Internet the first time you try to launch a MacOS X application for the PowerPC processor and download Rosetta automatically. If you do not have an Internet connection and did not install Rosetta when you installed Snow Leopard, you can install it from the DVD by launching the "Optional Installs" application.

PowerPC-based Macs, on the other hand, are not capable of running MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard". It only is compatible with Intel-based Macs.

What peripherals are not compatible with MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard"?

The Apple Support Site provides an exhaustive list of printer and scanner drivers that are provided with MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard". If your printer or scanner is not on the list, be sure to check with the applicable manufacturer to see if it is compatible.

By default, one way that MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" saves hard drive space is by only installing drivers for "the printers currently used by your Mac (if available), nearby printers on your network, and popular printer and scanner models" instead of installing drivers for every printer known to man. When you need a different printer or scanner driver later, the operating system will try to automatically retrieve the needed driver from the Internet via Software Update. Quite clever.

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