I know I'll have to bite the bullet one day, just not expecting to have to do it due to a photo post processing app. My main point was that 10.6 is not that long in the tooth, and most of the changes in Lion.x seem more for user control than anything else.
Again, you make it harder on yourself, the longer you delay upgrading...you get comfortable and then find yourself in a situation where you are forced to upgrade before you want to and develop a sense of anxiety and resistance to change. I know, been there, done that, got the Teeshirt.
Fact is, Lion isn't so bad and so far is performing better/smoother than 10.6.8 on my 2009 MacPro Tower (with 18.8.4 working fine on my 2011 MacBook Pro). There are more 64-bit libraries in 10.7.x so certain system level functions are faster and apps get an advantage of those libraries too (think LR5).
Yes, I don't care about 90% of Lion and dislike 10.8.x, but I dislike 10.8.x less than Windows 7 (don't get me started on Win
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I was reluctant to upgrade my main workstation to 10.7. But when I first got the LR5 beta system requirements, I said, ok...push comes to shove, I'll update. I had saved a Lion "Emergency" installer from when I updated my laptop, so it wasn't all that tough. I set up a dual-boot and went ahead and upgraded. I actually think 10.7.x is better in terms of performance compared to 10.6.8.
Yes, the way Apple is moving forward is irritating...you can only update to 10.7 from 10.6. So anybody running 10.5 must do a two OS jump. OS 10.7 & 10.8 can only be bought via the App Store...and you have to jump through hoops to actually get a real installer.
But, this isn't Adobe's fault...lay the blame at Apple's feet. But, you should really think about moving forward...I "think" you can still get a Lion installer on a thumb drive from an Apple store...backup your boot drive, make sure it's bootable, then do the 10.7 update and make sure all the incremental upgrades to get to 10.7.5. You can upgrade either you main boot drive or your boot backup (as long as you are booted from the backup–you can only upgrade the current boot drive with 10.7/10.
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Seriously, it wasn't painful...the only thing I had to do was learn how to make my user/Library visible using Terminal and then learn how to turn off all the Lion crap I don't want/need.
But, the longer you wait, the more painful it will be when you are forced to do so.