Why some Mac software will soon be outdated [View all]

From an advice column in my local paper:

Q: My four-year-old MacBook Pro is warning me that eight of my programs "will not work with future versions of MacOS and need to be updated to improve compatibility." Some of these programs are well-known software, such as "Microsoft Office Utilities" and "Amazon Music." I use the Mojave 10.14.4 operating system. What should I do?



A: The warning is misleading. You don't need to "improve compatibility" for those eight programs, because they work perfectly well with your present operating system. But you will need to upgrade to newer versions of the programs in order to use them on Apple's next Mac operating system, due out later this year.

The new Mac operating system doesn't yet have an official name, and is known only as "macOS 10.15." While Apple hasn't specified when it will be released, experts believe it will be announced this summer and available to consumers in the fall (for more about likely operating system features, see tinyurl.com/y4c3gddc).

Why do you need to upgrade the programs that generate the warning? Because they are all 32-bit software, which is now old technology. They process 32 bits of data at once, which limits both their speed and the amount of computer memory they can use (about 4 gigabytes.)

Apple has said the new Mac operating system will be able to use only newer, 64-bit programs that run faster and can use about 30 times as much memory.

Upgrading to 64-bit versions of your eight programs should be relatively easy, because software makers have known for some time that this change was coming. For instance, you can already find 64-bit Mac versions of Microsoft Office 2019 ($150, see tinyurl.com/yaamffvk) and Amazon Music (free, see tinyurl.com/nuchkbp).

http://www.startribune.com/why-some-mac-software-will-soon-be-outdated/509923792/

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I admit, I do not exactly understand this. Spouse is using a MacBook and is concerned. I am using iMac and have been ignoring the Mojave Software..