[roryokane]

I stay on OS X 10.6 because later versions drop support for PowerPC (Rosetta) applications. Many programs - abandoned programs and games - do not have Intel versions. And some games have Intel versions, but the Intel version costs money or is incompatible with previous saved games. I use these old programs rarely, but like to have the option of opening their files or playing those games.

Such applications include Airburst Extreme, the Fountain Music iTunes visualizer, Marble Blast Gold, N-Ball, Noise, SilverCreator v1.5, Sonic Robo Blast II, Super DX Ball, Super Phoenix, Water Tower, and Wire Hang Redux. There may be some plug-ins for various apps I'm forgetting, too.

[coldtea]

>Such applications include Airburst Extreme, the Fountain Music iTunes visualizer, Marble Blast Gold, N-Ball, Noise, SilverCreator v1.5, Sonic Robo Blast II, Super DX Ball, Super Phoenix, Water Tower, and Wire Hang Redux. There may be some plug-ins for various apps I'm forgetting, too.

Sounds like nothing like a reason to keep using Rosetta. I mean, seriously, "Fountain Music iTunes visualizer" and "Sonic Robo Blast II"?

Some business use case I'd understand (some proprietary program that you just have to use). But those? Find some substitute games and programs and move on.

>I use these old programs rarely, but like to have the option of opening their files or playing those games.

Sounds more like a soft case of hoarding to me.

In any case, just move to 10.8 and keep 10.6 on a VM (or a bootable USB/external drive) for those games.

[roryokane]

It’s true, I hoard a lot of digital things. Keeping a VM sounds like a good solution that allows me to upgrade to the latest OS without permanently losing any programs.

However, I think that the Fountain Music iTunes visualizer (http://binaryminded.com/fountainmusic.html) is actually the program I’ll miss the most after I upgrade. I enjoy listening actively to my music, paying attention to the musical details. And the visuals produced by Fountain Music, unlike every other visualizer I’ve seen, actually reflect the audio very well. It’s not just a mesmerizing screensaver that is theoretically tied to the audio somehow – you can clearly hear a connection between each note playing and each fountain of particles shooting up. The fact that the visuals reflect the music (most of the time) can put me more emotionally into the track, because I’m getting complementary signals through my eyes and ears.

Also, there is rarely such a thing as “substitute games”. That’s what makes games different from other programs – well-made games, even ones in the same genre, have their own unique, irreplaceable features. They are like books and movies in that regard. That’s why emulators for consoles like the SNES and the Dreamcast are still around – people don’t want to give up their favorite old games.