Mac OS 10.8 Available for Download; Compatibility Issues Exist

Apple’s newest operating system, Mac OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion), is now available for download at no cost, for computers purchased with CU-Boulder funds, via the campus’s Apple volume licensing agreement at http://oit.colorado.edu/apple-software/mountain-lion.

As is the case with most new operating system releases, there are initially a number of incompatibilities with commonly used applications and Mountain Lion is no exception. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) recommends upgrading only when applications that you commonly use are supported and compatible. If your department is served by OIT’s dedicated desktop support service, please consult your desktop support technician regarding plans to upgrade your operating system.

Early testing of Mountain Lion conducted by OIT has found similar campus service compatibility issues that existed with the previous Mac OS release (Lion).Symantec is advising that users currently encrypted with PGP Whole Disk Encryption or SEE Full Disk Encryption for Macs should not upgrade to Mountain Lion at this time. 

OIT is currently working with vendors of these incompatible services to remediate them as quickly as possible. OIT is still testing Mountain Lion for compatibility with campus services and you can learn more about compatibility issues with commonly used campus services at http://oit.colorado.edu/apple-software/mountain-lion.

The campus’s Apple volume licensing agreement provides licenses as a common good to CU-Boulder faculty and staff for select Apple products and upgrades. Apple software offered through this program is only available for computers purchased with CU-Boulder funds. Learn more at http://oit.colorado.edu/services/personal-computing-devices/apple-software.