vmware player - Is it legal to run Mac OS X version 10.6.3 Snow Leopard on windows?

I am relatively new to Mac OS X. I got my MacBook in January, and I have never experienced a new version of the operating system. I am wondering if I should simply upgrade my install to Snow Leopard. I come from Windows where it is advised to do a complete reformat. I would rather not do this, however, and I have a feeling that due to Mac OS X' POSIX based nature, it might actually not be all that bad if I upgrade.

I guess if things end up screwing up I can simply go ahead and reformat, but I am wondering what it is like to upgrade systems running Mac OS X. I wouldn't want my Snow Leopard installation to be somehow deficient due to certain inconsistencies within the system.

OS X upgrades generally go extremely smoothly. You can imagine that most users will find it most convenient to upgrade rather than reformat, and Apple engineers work very hard to make sure the process is smooth. (You can rest easy that an upgrade install won't be missing anything you'd get from a clean install.) In fact, having upgraded to Snow Leopard on a few machines already, the install process is even more painless than ever before. With such a recent machine, I wouldn't foresee any problems.

It's always wise to check for compatibility of third-party software and devices — for example, my wife has a BodyBugg that depends on a kernel extension to interface with the system, and the driver hasn't been updated yet. For now, I'm keeping around a Leopard partition on the drive for the "just in case" scenario.

By the way, you can partition without formatting by using Applications → Disk Utility, and the migration assistant can transfer data between partitions. Thus, if you're paranoid, it might pay off to create a Snow Leopard partition, do a clean install there, and migrate your data from the Leopard partition. Once you know it all works, either upgrade the Leopard partition or stick with the new one, then erase and re-merge the unused partition.

With every upgrade of os x, I have found the OS upgrade has always installed smoothly and all. However, the issues I have seen have been 3rd party device drivers with major system upgrades. For example, I had an M-audio Firewire Solo interface quit working after upgrading once. I had to wait until M-Audio released a driver set compatible with the OS upgrade before I could get my recording interface to work. Some third party software can behave oddly from an upgrade also.

If you are running a stock mac system and pretty common major software, you should not have many hiccups upgrading. You might want to do a little research or wait to upgrade a bit if you have lots of non-apple devices and software. I normally wait to see what other people report having trouble with upgrading before I actually upgrade.

I have this working on Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard 10.6.2 and Safari. It is a bit of a pain, but this is how I got it to work.

1. Go to http://www.machangout.com/
2. Download Glims and install it. Make sure your your safari is not set to 32 bit mode. To check, find Safari in your applications folder, and make sure the button next to 32 bit mode is not checked. Glims will not install I think if 32 bit mode is checked (not sure on this, but it didn't install for me). Safari has to be closed for Glims to install.
3. Install Glimmerblocker for safari. http:// www. macupdate. com/info.php/id/29689/glimmerblocker (not sure which or both are needed, but after installing both, it worked)
4. Set Safari to 32bit mode. Go to applications folder, highlight Safari and select Get Infom under the file menu in the finder. Click the button and set to 32 bit mode.
5. Go to BodyBugg or BodyMedia website and login. Both will now connect to your Device now and not ask you to reinstall the software (again).

Cornhead