Before you upgrade to OS X Lion (10.7.x) you should examine what applications you have and determine whether those applications need to be upgraded BEFORE you upgrade to Lion.
There are many previous applications from the days of the PowerPC Mac that will NOT work with Lion. AppleWorks is one of them. Quicken is another.
Let’s use Intuit’s Quicken as an example. Intuit’s Quicken 2009 runs fine on your Snow Leopard equipped iMac. However, according to Intuit’s website, it will not run on Lion. Also Quicken Essentials for Mac WILL run on Lion, as well as Snow Leopard and Leopard.
If you do not delve deeply into the Lion upgrade read me file (no direct link, you must search for it) you will not know that you have to upgrade to Quicken Essentials for Mac BEFORE upgrading to Lion, because the included Quicken Data Converter application (which you must use to converter your data to the new format) is NOT Lion compatible. Meaning, you MUST convert your data under Leopard or Snow Leopard BEFORE moving to Lion.
MAKE SURE YOU BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE PROCEEDING!!!!!!!!!!
Once converted THEN moved, Quicken Essentials for Mac works fine. Check the Quicken website BEFORE moving to Essentials to find out what capabilities are LOST and what capabilities are GAINED!
There are many other upgraded, Intel Only, applications that use the same scenario as above. Check with the manufaturer’s web site or call their tech support BEFORE making the move to Lion!
Lion is a great, more secure operating system. However, upgraders must be wary especially if they are using third-party (non-Apple) applications that must be upgraded to take advantage of the new system.
If you have questions you can contact me at iq@intelimaq.com or make an appointment for assistance by emailing appt@intelimaq.com.
….Gunner