Do Not Update to MacOS Catalina

Apple does this: abandons technology for the next shiny toy. In this case, 32 bit support has been replaced with 64 bit support only.

The October 9th MacRumors story, “32-Bit Apps ‘Not Optimized for Your Mac’ No Longer Working on macOS Catalina,” says “Apple warned that it (Mojave) would be the last version of macOS that would support older 32-bit apps. Apple has been phasing out 32-bit apps for the last 10 years and is now ready to take the final step, even if Mac users may not be ready to lose access to older apps.”

Lightroom has a few issues, including tethering for Nikon cameras. And, I use Lightroom’s tethering feature with my Nikons in the studio. I know a few of our clients do as well.

The most recent release of Photoshop still has 32 bit tools that require updating and will not work in Catalina. There are also file naming issues and some broken plug-ins. And, we don’t know the timetable for updates on those tools.

Adobe reports that if you’re a power user (but we think every user should use caution), “You may want to remain on your current version of macOS until these issues have been resolved.” Adobe has released a list of known compatibility issues with MacOS Catalina for Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.

Apple pushes out updates with the expectation that they will find out what’s not working as users update. We prefer to wait on these major updates for exactly that reason. Do not update to MacOS Catalina. It won’t hurt to hold off. And if you do not update to MacOS Catalina right away, you might be saving yourself some serious grief. Wait a week. You could even wait a month. And while you’re waiting, search for Catalina compatibility of all your existing programs (at least the ones you use).

You can also read more about this in the October 8th PetaPixel post, “Do not Update to macOS Catalina Yet if You Use Photoshop or Lightroom.”

So, keep an eye on the above links until an “all clear” is reported by Adobe and, do not update to MacOS Catalina.