Warning: Current DD client will not work on Snow Leopard (without installing Rosetta)

[cmarkle_aspera]

Folks,

(Edited...)

Chris Markle here from Aspera... For any of you thinking about migrating to Snow Leopard, please be aware that the current DD client will not work on Snow Leopard without installing the now-optional Rosetta feature. If, for some reason, you are unable or unwilling to install this optional component and you require DD client services, you will need to stay for now on Leopard (or earlier).

This is because the DD client is actually a PPC (PowerPC) application and runs on Intel-based Macs through the services of an OS capability called Rosetta. Rosetta lets Intel Macs run PPC applications. As of Snow Leopard, OS X will not longer include Rosetta by default.

These comments from a recent Snow Leopard review explain this further:

There are some other notable options in the customized installation window. Rosetta, the technology that enables code compiled for PowerPC chips to run on Intel chips, is available--but is not installed by default. Rosetta only takes up a few megabytes of drive space, and without it older programs simply won't run, so if you have such programs, that option is worth checking. To find out if an App is PowerPC only, select an old app and choose Get Info; if its Kind is listed as Application (PowerPC), it needs Rosetta. If you don't [install Rosetta], and if you later try to launch a PowerPC app, Snow Leopard will pop up a window to explain that you need Rosetta and offer to install it for you (via Apple's Software Update utility).

Again, if you need the DD client to run on your machine, and you are unwilling or unable to install the now-optional Rosetta component, then you will need to stay for the current time on Leopard. We do have an updated client getting close to be able to be beta tested and that client will support Intel Macs. I cannot commit yet to a beta timeframe but I will keep this board updated.

Chris from Aspera