Adobe Lightroom Incompatibility

Well, I finally got around to upgrading. Confident that if something went wrong: 1) I had everything backed up 2) I have a few extra hours to troubleshoot... just in case.

I must say, the installation process is seamless. As this is my first Mac OS upgrade I was apprehensive and bracing myself for the worst -- a trait inspired by many Windows upgrades. In fact, I never perform upgrades on my computers, I always do a full installation. However, this time I thought I would try it and do a full install later if necessary.

As I type these words I'm trying to import the pictures I took with my camera into Adobe Lightroom. What the heck! After 3 attempts only 10 or so pics are being imported and the import module seems frozen! The first application compatibility is one of my absolute favourite titles and from Adobe, nonetheless. Shocked I attempt to do an import after copying the folders from my memory card to the desktop (perhaps a faulty card?). Phew. It works.

Curious, I google the problem and see that Adobe has acknowledged some incompatibilities with Lightroom with a planned update for mid-November. Bad, Adobe. Bad. Bad. Bad. This is definitely not going to stop me from using Lightroom: being a software engineer has taught me that software incompatibilties will always exist, and ironing out bugs is time consuming. Anyways, at this site a known workaround for my problem is to switch to another application and come back to Lightroom. I didn't need to do this as the pictures imported fine from a copied folder on my desktop (I'll check the card on another computer tomorrow).

Installation

I popped in the installation dvd and my computer greeted me with the following screen. I'll be honest, I started to get a little giddy, but convincing myself not to get too excited I came back to reality.

Here's the splash screen. I promised myself in not covering junk when I write my articles, however, as any Mac user can relate, the feelings of euphoria that overcome you when something new from Apple comes out is unlike any other feeling (well, almost...). This feeling is what I felt what I saw my background change and this window pop up.

This screen caught me off guard. I've recently got into the habit of reading disclaimers and all the fine print contained with software. Not that I read every line critically: I tend to skim. I took a computer law course this past year and it opened my eyes to some very interesting things. So know I enjoy seeing what type of constraints manufacturers put into their fine print. This one caught my eye as I can't see why using an operating system is dependent upon firewire. This definitely will require some further investigation.

I always try to conserve disk space, and printer drivers is usually one of the first areas to be cut (after all, how many different printers can you own?). However, I've learned from experience that having these drivers may save your butt. Thus I make it a point, now, to ensure I leave every printer driver installed. Now this advice assumes that you're going to be mobile with your computer -- otherwise it doesn't make sense to choose every driver. Unless, of course, you test printers for a living...

And voila! Proof of Leopard's integration onto my hard drive.