As any Mac owner knows, beyond the sleek design and performance, this piece of machinery comes with its baggage. I won't get into many issues, just one in particular:
backward compatibility. It all started when I wanted to install Maya 2016 yesterday, but it required that I update my OS. After much hesitation and deliberation, I decided to go ahead and move up to Yosemite. This, as usual, led to a world of problems.
Errors Ho!
As you can see above, the first problem I encountered was a driver problem for the GPU. The display started acting crazy. Luckily, a couple of updates fixed that issue. Next, I started running my most important apps to make sure they still work. This left me with 3 Java Update requirements, 3 OS incompatibilities, 3 damaged app errors, one configuration error and one plain old "can't be opened" error. Oh, and PTGui just keeps bouncing without doing anything else.
Here We Go...
 |
| Finale 2011 |
First thing I did, was install Java SE6 runtime. That fixed Illustrator and Flash, but Finale wasn't as lucky. It started running, but when I created a note, it displayed an error:
"Unhandled Exception Caught" and closed. Next time, it just
"quit unexpectedly". At first, I thought something was wrong with the Garritian Instruments plugin, but it crashed even when using the default SoftSynth instruments. Eventually, I was able to use it a bit, but it's still very unstable.
 |
| After Effects CS6 |
Next, I searched for an update for After Effects CS6. I found one on Adobe's website, and after installation, it started running smoothly. *Phew* That one was a bit scary. I can't imagine working without AE. I had to install newer versions of FCP and Compressor to get those working too. (OMG! Compressor looks completely different!)
 |
| Nuke Studio 9 |
Nuke, NukeX and Nuke Studio all refused to open, claiming that the app was
"damaged or incomplete". A quick reinstallation took care of that. And I have to say, way to go on the non-commercial license! Thank you, The Foundry!
 |
| DaVinci Resolve Lite 11 |
DaVinci Resolve was kind of a weird fix. I uninstalled the current version and tried to reinstall it, but got an error saying
"Mac OS X 10.6 or Later Required"....Um.....I'm running 10.10!
Whatever.
Thankfully, the lite version of DaVinci is free, so I just downloaded and installed the latest version from Black Magic Design's website.
(They have a linux version now?? Sweet!) I can't wait for them to launch a mac version of Fusion! I love professional grade freeware.
 |
| Logic Pro 9 running Kontakt 5 |
Something weird happened with Kontakt. When opened as a standalone software from applications, it gave me a blunt message saying
"Can't be Opened". Interestingly, I can still load it as a plugin inside of Logic...Well, that's really the only way I'm going to use it, so, whatever. I'll just let it be.
While I was fixing all of this, I noticed something crop up on my Activity Monitor. I typically have a habit of keeping it open whenever I work, and for good reason. My CPU usage was suddenly sky rocketing for no apparent reason. A closer look revealed the cause to be a process initiated by HP? What? This useless process was eating up my resources much like a virus, and kept relaunching upon termination. A quick search online showed I wasn't alone. Apparently, this was caused by a printer driver.....so much for that update from apple! Removing it was an instant fix.
Note to self: don't update drives unless necessary.
 |
| HP's custom made virus |
Closing Thoughts
During the OS update, the installer displayed an error, saying that my Wacom driver will not be supported. Apparently it went ahead and automatically uninstalled it. I downloaded the latest driver and now, my pen tab seems to work fine. In the end, I could never get PTGui working. I guess I fixed everything other than that and Finale...oh well. Irritating as these issues may be, they all stem from one root cause -
Mac is based on Unix. Unix has lousy backward compatibility. Like it or not, such issues have to be expected. Although, at the end of the day, I'd rather debug a Windows than a Mac.
P.S. - Red iTunes?? Seriously???
