Update on Snow Leopard Compatibility

September 17, 2009 by Mike Wong • 35 Comments

The other day, I posted a link to an updated License Manager that I thought fixed the problems that our customers (you) were having with our products and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Turns out it worked...until you rebooted your computer. At which point, well, the problem showed up again and you would be told your software wasn't activated.

The problem lies within the software activation code in all but a couple of our products and this activation code is something that we license from a third-party developer. We are working closely with this developer to find a solution and will post it as soon as possible. For those of you experiencing this problem and have contacted us, believe me, we have heard you loud and clear.

Craig Keudell, onOne Software President has written a letter outlining the problems and what we are doing about it. The letter says in part:

"We know that the majority of problems facing our users who have upgraded to Mac OS X Snow Leopard stem from an issue with the activation. We are working closely with our activation service provider to resolve these issues and get the necessary updates to you as fast as possible."

Included is a compatibility chart for both Mac OS X 10.6 and Windows 7 which is slated to be available next month.

35 thoughts on “Update on Snow Leopard Compatibility

  1. I’m glad you posted this because I thought I was going crazy when it happened to me again yesterday.

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  2. When I try to install Phototools2 using Snow Leopard, I get an error message: “could not find PS on your machine… so can’t install.” In fact PS Elements 6 is on this MacBook Pro. How do I work around this; or do I need a patch?
    Morris

  3. This is one of the problems on DRM. The dishonest people download cracked versions and the honest people get punished for doing the right thing. :-(

  4. Like to buy this software, the filters are realy great! But…..all the wasting of energy and money to a license manager???!!! and still no working app. for weeks (month’s)! People who already paid for this software long time ago, are still struckling with this mess around! OnOnesoftware should realize not to sell software before testing it! But they want to be in the race i.e. with Niksoftware… I think they lost. Tip: go and search another protectionsystem for your (very) good software.
    Tim.

  5. I purchased Genuine Fractals 6.0 today and find that it’s forcing Photoshop CS$ to crash. From the posts I’ve seen it seems to be a problem with Snow Leopard, which I’m running, so will you be posting a fix for this plugin too?

  6. Seems a lack of testing was the order of the day here… did no-one test this with the developer release of snow leopard?????

    and does the same activation DRM crash with other software??

    This isnt a small bug, but a failure of OnOne to do basic testing – till then they are loosing customers to Nik software.

  7. Really… how long can it take to fix some activation software… come on this is a disgrace.. as the guy said above… the honest people who license the software are being shafted…. it does seam a bit pathetic that you don’t have a contingency… this is not just embarrassing.. it’s damaging your reputation and our workflow / productions…
    I’m so angry that you are not acting faster…

  8. It’s really unbelievable that this bug has not been corrected. I’m really close to ditching the program and spending the money and getting all the Kubota actions, that are not having these issue. It’s a shame you guys have messed up my workflow and caused me severe delays. Other companies have produced bug fixes immediately after the launch of Snow Leopard and here you guys are still lagging. I hope the QA group has gotten an earful..that’s if you guys have a QA qroup.

  9. Sad to say, I’m in agreement with the above folks. It’s a great disappointment to expect an important piece of software to work and then discover it won’t, simply because of a hang-up that should never have hung-up in the first place. Competition is fierce and this certainly isn’t going to help onOne’s position in the marketplace. And, with the Photoshop Conference coming up in Vegas in less than a week, somebody’d better have a sincere set of mea culpas ready for Expo.

  10. This bug is really costing me time and sanity :-(

    I don’t get messages saying it’s not activated, it just crashes CS4 at random intervals. Sometimes I can edit 5 images without an issue and then BAM….instant loss and I have to rep open CS4 and start again.

    Several mails, later and still no closer to being sorted.

    I’ve asked technical support on several occasions now if there is an error report / dump screen produced by snow leopard or onone/cs4 for the cause of the crash as I’m new to macs…(great start eh to this allegedly more reliable platform) and they’ve not written back since they said use the updated licence manager.

    come on guys, pull it together please.

  11. It has now been one week since the ‘open letter’ from Craig Keudell, onOne Software President, was posted.

    It would be good if OnOne could now provide a further update on just what is happening and where we stand with regard to achieving a solution on this issue.

    No news is not good news…

  12. Still no sound from OnOne guys! The website starts telling us ‘Making Digital Photography Easier, Faster, Better….’ Ehhh, ….SORRY???!!!

  13. I just purchased the Photo Frame 4 on your special. Since I have snow leopard, I guess I just threw the money out the window? It will not license and is now crashing my CS4. I do wish I would have known about this before purchasing, I warning on your product page would be great. The product looks great in the demos, but I would like to try it.

    Thanks — Kelly

  14. Exactly the same for me. Purchased Plug-in suite sixmonths ago, very happily working with it for five months, dead for the last month with Snow Leopard. I’ve asked for a full refund to purchase a different work-flow suite.

  15. Just an update. The issues that I have had for the last month are only observed with 64-bit startup. 32-bit mode is OK

  16. Come on guys, get this fixed. I have to save after each thing I do in PS CS4 so as not to loose my work. If I try to cancel out of a filter I bomb, if I try to go in a second time I bomb.
    Bombs are costing me time which costs me money.

  17. Sorry for mixing platforms here, but there may be some commonality in what follows that could affect both the Mac and Windows side of things.

    On the Windows 7 side, I ran the 64-bit RC (the pre-shipping version) for several months with no problems. I then removed my system drive with Win 7 RC and coupled a new hard drive which I then loaded with Win 7 64-bit RTM OS (the shipping version). In both cases, I had 2 data drives that were common to both system drives in the computer, although never at the same time. That is, when I used one OS, the other OS was physically disconnected and plug-ins and Photoshop were properly deactivated before switching system drives. While the Plug-In Suite worked fine with Win 7 RC, it would not activate when switched to the fresh load of Win 7 RTM (latest version) and Photoshop CS3. Plug-In Suite is the ONLY piece of software within a complex load of application software that will not work.

    In this case, I doubt it is an incompatibility with Win 7 (the open letter even states that there are no issues with Win 7). It’s almost as if there is DRM embedded in the files that the Plug-In Suite has been used on (on my 2 common data drives) that thwarts activation even on a clean install of an operating system on a new drive. If this is true, it is most insidious.

    So on the Windows side, if you install a new operating system, but have your data files on separate hard drives that were also used with the first OS, it looks like you will probably not be able to activate – even though you properly de-activated on the previous system drive. In other words, this probably has little to do with being an “Early Adopter” and A LOT to do with BAD DRM.

    I really should try another reload, but this time refrain from connecting my data drives before I activate on the Win 7 RTM version of the OS. I just haven’t been able to fit that in yet since I burned up so much time trying to get this far. But, if I reconnect my data drives, will I lose my activation? Is this a further waste of time? At the moment, I simply put back the drive with Win 7 RC and re-activated everything. At least I can work, but in March, 2010 when Win 7 RC starts to time out, I will need to be using the shipping version of Win 7.

    Software and music distributors think that DRM does them such great favours. If it works fairly unobtrusively, fine. I do understand why it is there. I don’t like to be stolen from either. But I need something that works. I should just go out and buy something that does, but that would mean throwing away a few hundred bucks in a difficult economy. – Unless I can get a refund.

  18. Hello – This is getting a bit old here …… buying something that does not work the way it should. Does anyone have any updates or addtional news with regards to Phototools Professional 2.0 ?

    M. James

  19. The joke for me is that I finally bought it when the upgrade price special came out. Installed it and it stops working when I reboot, lol! DRM is a real problem, piracy is a real problem, but having paying customers unable to use your product is a HUGE problem.

  20. Great product at one time but it seems you aren’t listening to the people. I see 22 unhappy people above (of which I’m sure there are many more than that) with the same problem as me and still no fix. I even was put on hold trying to contact tech support and told I was the next person in line and then after 30 minutes a recording said you couldn’t take my call. Not only a product that doesn’t work any longer, now I’m getting blown off by your answering system. This WAS one of my favorite products until Snow Leopard came out and it won’t work any longer. I can actually get one picture edited at a time and then if I try to use it for another photo it crashes Photoshop CS4. Try working on over 1,000 images when you have to restart Photoshop each time. No thanks. I will go elsewhere for another product.

  21. well it’s next month and No resolve. I can’t use my software that I spent $500.00 on. Give me my money back!!!!!!!!

  22. I have to say after getting a new MacPro I was having problems, but in three conversations with OnOne support I was able to fix everything. Support was great and I even got a call this morning Cheryl asking me if my work with John had solved my problems. It did and thank you. Great product and great service has been my experience. It seems the problems are with 10.6 maybe more than with OnOne.

  23. Look, i have one solution for u all…

    i have tried Mike Wong solution (here : http://www.ononesoftware.com/support/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=299) , using new License Manager, but the problem is u have to do the same thing again after u restart or turn off ur computer…

    so i decide to do this way :

    1. Copy the new License to OnOne Plugin Suite Folder
    2. Drag License Manager App to Dock
    3. Right Click on it and Choose –> Options –> Open at Login

    Done,

    Now everytime u start ur Mac (login) this App will open, and u just have to click exit…

    Sure this will feel as the inconnvenient solution, but this is the easiest way i found, better than browsing to the plugin folder each time u wanna run Photoshop… =)

    Open ur Photoshop, and all ur Plugin should be work like normal…

    I have tried it many times (Restarting my Macbook & Macpro again and again to test) and work till now..

    so hope this will help u too…

    NOTE : If u already Using Plugin 4.5.1 NEVER download & do The Update on the link posted by Mike Wong above…, i tried this before & it mess all, the License Fix don’t work anymore & i have to re-install all my plugin….

  24. When I am using Photoshop CS3 on on iMac with the latest Snow Leopard installed, I cna run Phototools (Professional on one image, manipulate and then save with no problems.

    When I then launch another new image, and try to start Phototools it immediately crashes.

    If I restart Photoshop, I can edit one image using Phototools, but then when I try a second, the same thing happens…CRASH !!!

    Any ideas, as this is obviously not the licence code issue…???

  25. @Johnathon: Try downloading the latest updates that we posted this morning. Go to our Software Updates page and then find the product you need to update. If you have PhotoTools Professional as part of the Suite then make sure you just get the Suite 4.5.2 updater. Otherwise, there is a PhotoTools 2.0.2 updater.

  26. I have downloaded the 4.5.2 Pluginsuite fix.

    However I dare not install it yet as I am unable to deactivate existing 4.5.1 PIS by following the support instructions given. As soon as I try to open any PIS via photoshop CS4 it crashes before I even get to see the OnOne plug in & check the deactivate option.

    Help, what’s the answer…………?

    Cheers

  27. Crashing is driving me BONKERS!!!

    Please get this sorted and NOW as I have work to do and when the program crashes for the fifteenth time and it is the wrong side of midnight……. well thankfully nobody was awake in the house to hear the comments!

    How long do we have to wait on this….. any update please?

  28. Can somebody advice me whether I should upgrade my OS 10.4 to OS 10.6 without damaging my great OnOne and Nik softwares?

  29. Its there any news on when will your software work with Snow Leopard, it is almost 3 or 4 Months since Leopard’s been out, why is it taking so long with the fix?

    Its anyone working on this? Your last Update was Sept 09 2009…

    Crashes are driving me INSANE!