If you have a Mac shop,  you’re probably as excited as I am about many of the features in the newest Mac OS  X update, named Lion.   AirDrop, iOS features like pinch-zoom and apps organization (Launchpad) are just a few of the things I’m ready to add to my Mac experience.

But don’t let that lion out it’s cage just yet.

The reason is that along with those cool features, Lion removes support for Rosetta.  That’s the translator that enables older PowerPC programs to run on Apple’s  Intel-powered machines.

I happen to have several PowerPC programs that are critical for my business.  Once I install Lion, those programs will no longer work–including one very useful program, Quickbooks.  There are also a number of issues reported with Adobe products, especially CS4 and earlier photo suite products. For example, in pre-CS5 Photoshop, droplets no longer work on Lion.

So before you install, do a simple check to see how it may impact you.  Go to  Utilities–>System Profiler and click on Applications (Under Software).  When the list of all your programs appears, click on the tab “Kind”, which sorts by type.  Scroll down the list and you’ll see “PowerPC” for any older programs that require Rosetta.

Some of these older programs may not be in use, in which case you can uninstall them wtih AppCleaner and install Lion.  But if you’re like me, you’ll wait a little longer until Lion is tamed with some updates and your PowerPC application developers come out with Lion-compatible versions.