Apple rolls out Snow Leopard update to fix Rosetta bugs

Apple is rolling out an update for the Snow Leopard platform to address bugs that were introduced by last week's security update.

After installing the original update to "improve security" for Snow Leopard, many users found that it broke the Rosetta feature on their Macs. This meant that users were unable to run older applications such as Word and Excel 2004, Photoshop CS and Quicken 2007.

Problems included frequent crashing and being unable to save and print.

Many users expressed frustration on various internet forums and noted the detrimental impact of the update.

"This update has totally crippled my business. Now, First Edge crashes when trying to open my data file. Quicken won't print. I've got no accounting or bill paying ability," noted Richard Quindry on the Macintouch site.

"I called AppleCare for help and spoke to a senior adviser. I was taken back at his very cavalier attitude that Apple didn't care if it stopped Rosetta from running. He saw it all as a problem with third-party apps that wasn't Apple's problem."

Apple is said to have fixed the issue with version 1.1 of the security update, with users reporting that applications are working now. Users should check Software Update (in the Apple menu) as the update has not been posted on Apple's support downloads page, at the time of writing.

In the meantime, users are not encouraged to download the existing update, which is still listed on the support page as Security Update 2012-001. Those who have already done so will have to download version 1.1 to correct any problems.

Apple dropped Rosetta support from Mac OS X Lion, so Snow Leopard is the last version of the desktop OS to support legacy applications.

However, users should not bank on support for too much longer as Lion becomes the de facto OS. Business users who want to continue using the Mac operating system may have to start thinking about upgrading the application set they use to avoid further problems.