Apple plans to release the latest version of Mac OS (10.15 Catalina) in October. It will not support 32-bit apps like the current version of our Goldenseal estimating/accounting software. They just won’t run.
This is not a surprise. The change was on the roadmap more than 5 years ago, which is when we started work on Goldenseal Pro. Back then, 5 years seemed like plenty of time to get it done. Unfortunately, the project was much bigger than expected. Our resources to finish it have been smaller than expected.
I apologize for the delay.
Catalina is a big release. Apple has been updating their own system code and apps from 32-bit to 64-bit, and it is not an easy process. Many testers are reporting that the beta versions have been very buggy. Odds are good that the first 10.15 release will still have some of those bugs. It’s probably a good idea to wait for version 10.15.1 or 10.15.2. Maybe even later.
In the past, the problematic big releases have been followed by a small update a year later, with code that is much more stable and reliable. Back in the cat era, Leopard was buggy, while Snow Leopard was fantastic. Ditto for Lion and Mountain Lion, then Sierra and High Sierra in the current California geography era. It’s a good guess that next year’s 10.16 will be similar. Will Apple follow the same naming system and call it Santa Catalina?
Some Macintosh apps will never be updated to 64-bit. The previous updates to PPC, OSX and Intel chips each killed off about half of the small-to-medium Macintosh apps, plus a few big ones. Most likely the same will happen with this transition.
Frankly, if TurtleSoft had a time machine, we would hop right in and set the dial for 2014. Then hit the Undo button, retire Goldenseal, and do something much more fun than learning Cocoa and rewriting 2/3 of the code.
However, in the present timeline Goldenseal Pro is far enough along that we will finish it. It does have some big improvements that we are eager to start using.
Dennis Kolva
Programming Director
TurtleSoft.com
