Going from Mac OS X to Vista 64 - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D

10/15/2008 04:47:31 PM · #1

Thought others might be interested in a "blog" of my conversion back to Windows after a year (11 months anyway of using a Mac).

The Mac is still here, but I never grew fond of OS X, and I found it to not live up to it's "software reliability reputation". As a recent example, I wasted 4 hours over the past two days because Lulu studio, an application that runs in Firefox, seems to leak memory and at some point, Firefox and the _WindowManager process were consuming 99% of the CPU--clicks and keystrokes worked, but were about 20 minutes delayed. Since I wanted to shut the machine down gracefully because I had other things running, I had to try to run the Process Manager and kill Firefox to get the machine back. That took about two hours. It's very repeatable too--I had it happen two days in a row. Since OS X is built on a preemptive multitasking environment, I wouldn't expect an application to be able to consume 99% of the CPU (I have 4 cores in two processors), leaving the machine unresponsive to the user.

Anyway, I just got the new computer an hour or so ago, and I'm in the process of "setting up" my apps. It's an HP D5000t with 6GB of memory and a quad core processor at 2.66 Ghz, and, setup went smoothly--though the initial HP self-building boot was pretty slow! But I've rebooted since (I bought Norton security and it required a reboot after it updated itself), and the reboot was really fast. And the computer seems very snappy.

Setup was very easy overall. I hadn't thought to plug in the network cable when I went through the canned setup, but I just plugged it in, and a couple of prompts later I was online. And typing the UNC path in an explorer address bar (\\mp) got me right to my Mac shared files.

But today hasn't been without problems: I bought an IOGear 4 port KVM with Dual Link so I could switch back and forth between the Mac and the PC. It works well, except the Dual Link part ;) I set it up with the Mac earlier today, before the PC came, and the picture was full resolution but looked to be interlaced or noisy. I've yet to try it with the PC, but IOGEAR support told me to return it to where I bought it and have them give me a different one. I'm a bit suspicious it just sucks, but we'll see. I'm not sure the video card I bought even supports Dual Link video (I bought the cheaper card and I planned to replace it by buying one at a lower margin from a retailer other than HP)

We'll see if I can get the big monitor working shortly. Right now I'm just on a regular DVI 20" monitor (my secondary monitor.)

Software Compatibility. Vista 64 installs two application trees--one's marked Program Files (x86). That's apparently where it wants you to install 32 bit applications, and it's where Firefox went. Task manager shows 32 bit apps with *32 at the end. 32 bit firefox runs great, but I'm surprised there's no 64 bit version yet. (Or there may be and I don't know about it.)

Soon on my agenda (maybe tonight) is to install Lightroom and see if it installs a 64 bit version as I've heard, and finally upgrade from CS to CS4, which should be 64 bit!

But then again, the debate is tonight!

Message edited by author 2008-10-15 16:48:48.

Louis

Nikon D800

10/15/2008 04:52:50 PM · #2

Thanks for this, I'll watch this thread for your progress. I'm interested in how your application installs go, and how smoothly running 32-bit apps is, as well as your general experience finding and/or installing device drivers. I'm also thinking of upping to Vista 64-bit soon.

lynnesite

Canon EOS-1D X

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

10/15/2008 04:53:58 PM · #3

Have you ever repaired permissions on your boot drive? A $10 utility could do that automatically.

Have you ever done catalog maintenance on your boot drive? A booted DVD of Disk Warrior or Tech Tool Pro/Performance, a drive is still a drive.

Have you ever run Activity Monitor to track the overuse of your CPU's time? Shutdown of a misbehaving process is immediate.

Good luck with your Windows foray.

goinskiing

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

10/15/2008 05:04:19 PM · #4

Originally posted by lynnesite:

Have you ever repaired permissions on your boot drive?

I second this. Also, what is your Mac setup?

Did you do a clean install of Vista 64? Which flavor you running?

Both Mac OSX and Vista 64 are two separate beasts, each with their own pro and cons. I actually like and use both on my MacBook Pro.

The 64 bit Vista is the only way to go though. Having 4+ GB of RAM is always a welcome thing in my mind.

Both look good and are easy to use in their own rights.

geoffb

10/15/2008 05:09:31 PM · #5

Originally posted by nshapiro:

32 bit firefox runs great, but I'm surprised there's no 64 bit version yet. (Or there may be and I don't know about it.)

It's been available for a while as a 3rd-party application. Firefox won't officially support 64-bit for a while, as nothing would work with it (i.e. extensions, Flash, etc.).

//wiki.mozilla-x86-64.com/Download

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

10/15/2008 06:11:00 PM · #6

Originally posted by lynnesite:

Thanks--been through all that. I check that sort of thing regularly and even ran Disk Warrior. I've run hardware diagnostics on this Mac. I've done an Archive and Restore. And about a month ago, I've had to replace the system disk--the one that came with the Mac already checked out.

I've given this Mac almost a whole year of opportunities. I've spent two months seeing Finder crash on JPEGs, with not a word from Apple, only to eventually find that it was a bug in the OS that was causing Finder (and other Apple Apps) to crash on unexpected metadata. Finally fixed a month or two after that (February 2008 I believe).

It has nothing to do with the problem I just described too--which I am betting anyone can replicate easily. Just load Lulu under Firefox, start using it, until at least half memory is used up (2.5 GB of my 5). The Mac behaves in ultra-ultra slow motion. Sure, you can eventually close Firefox, but getting to the Activity Monitor (that's what I meant when I said Process Monitor) is a feat in itself, as is making sure you register a click on the right application, and then get it to Force Quit. Then you wait. Eventually, it's ok, but you are talking hours.

In any case, I'm here to blog about my new "setup" for the PC, not my year of Mac woes. Not totally raggin on the Mac either--there were some good features I've yet to see if Vista can cover! We'll see. Already, I'm as happy with the vista sidebar tools as the ones I used on the Mac (mainly the stock ticker and the weather). I'll blog about the "features" I did like on the Mac and how (and if) they are covered under Vista.

So far, though, I am at a bit of a roadblock on my final Vista setup. At least through this IOGEAR switch, I can't get the Dual link monitor to work at all on the PC, and it's not working very well on the Mac either. But if I connect direct, one of the two computers is going to have to use an analog connection to another monitor and will lose the high res display (nothing beats 2500x1600 on one monitor!

I still have to try it direct, then finally, if it doesn't work that way, it will be time to order the video card I really wanted for this PC! (That was by the way, one "surprise" I learned when I went to the Mac. With the standard bus architecture of the Mac and the PC, I thought I could buy any video card I wanted. The third party market is rife with great options. I discovered though, that I was pretty limited to what Apple supported, which was pretty much the card they sold me (and eventually, the newer card they offered on the Mac Pro update.)

Haven't tried any of the new PC features yet either; I threw in the tuner card with this PC, just to see how it worked and see if it gave me any good video options.

I am impressed so far with Norton Internet Security. I gave Norton up years ago for AVG, but accepted the bundle with this PC to try it again. It has a password/form filler option now, which now seems to effectively take the place of the the third party App I was using on the Mac -- 1Password.

dacrazyrn

Nikon D300

10/15/2008 06:22:15 PM · #7

So a third party app, ran inside a third party app, made to run on a Mac is eating up the memory? Hmmmm

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

10/15/2008 06:26:52 PM · #8

Originally posted by dacrazyrn:

So a third party app, ran inside a third party app, made to run on a Mac is eating up the memory? Hmmmm

Go to Lulu, run their "Lulu Studio" and watch memory in Firefox creep up quickly as you use it. It happens in Safari as well, I tried that last night, because I still need to finish my project. But I quit before it leaked too much, because I couldn't afford the time to go through the slow down again.

But I may try it under Vista in the next day or two! See if it suffers the same fate!

lynnesite

Canon EOS-1D X

10/15/2008 07:20:52 PM · #9

Looking forward to your continuing journey then! It's hard to get too mad at an app inside a continually evolving app though. ;-) I will admit to closing CS3 every once in a while though Activity Monitor shows no apparent leaks, performance degrades. Usually there are at least a dozen apps open though and it's a G5 dp. Restarting every month or so. The big surprise was how much faster Lightroom 2.0 was on this machine than the old one.

goinskiing

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

10/15/2008 08:21:39 PM · #10

Boo consumer grade Norton. At least that's what I have found in my experience. It's just a hog and was always bothersome. I haven't had any problems using AVG in Vista. It's small and doesn't seem to be too obtrusive.

It sounds like your Vista rig is comin' along well.

Like I said before, I like Macs and Vista for entirely different reasons. I like PCs because I love to build them and get my hands dirty if you will. In my experience, the Mac experience has been smooth as butta, especially with my photog stuff.

It's Apples and Oranges. Both are delic'.

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D

10/16/2008 11:57:55 AM · #11

So far no problems!

I tried out the tuner and Media center last night. I added that in my package because it wasn't expensive, and I wanted to see how video integration has progressed, having watched and been a part of the early days of "convergence" where video was just coming to the PC and CD-ROM was just being introduced.

Really, it's pretty impressive. I just hooked it up to regular cable. There's a free program guide, like you get with digital cable, and you can record. There was one hiccup I haven't worked through--mainly because I don't really care--but the Media Center setup said it only configured one tuner, yet there appeared to be two. Later I discovered that that would be necessary to record one show while watching another. I'll probably try to get it working some time, but really, I don't plan on using this computer for watching/recording TV. Yet, for the first time, I find myself in the position where I can see how a media center PC would be a good addition to the living room TV. We have digital cable up there without a recording option, and I think the remote is more poorly designed than the one I got with the PC and so is the interface in general

The other thing I thought worth documenting for now, here, is that it worked very well with Vista 64. No problems there.

I've also been installing software and so far, no hitches for Vista 64. I think I'll start a list of the software I'm installing and how it fares--that will be interesting to many interested in Vista 64, and also I've never documented a new PC load before, so it will be interesting to me. But that's for another post...

Louis

Nikon D800

10/16/2008 12:51:45 PM · #12

Originally posted by nshapiro:

I think I'll start a list of the software I'm installing and how it fares--that will be interesting to many interested in Vista 64, and also I've never documented a new PC load before, so it will be interesting to me.

I'll definitely be watching for that.

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D

10/16/2008 01:44:12 PM · #13

Hardware:

- BlacX SATA drive dock (USB2) This is a great way to use bare hard drives to backup. I have another one of these docks I've been using on the Mac as well. Just buying bare drivers rather than external USB drives is a lot less expensive, and they're easier to store too. Works great. I used this in conjunction with Acronis True Image to bookmark and backup my system. Just pop in a drive, hot-swappable, and you're in business. Worked great on V64.

- Multiple keyboards, mice. This may be nothing new but I've been using the same Northgate keyboards, which are 10-20 years old) on my PCs for years. I even got it to work on the Mac, using a PS2 to USB converter. Because I wanted to switch back and forth, I used USB to hook it up to the PC under Vista 64, and it worked like a charm. Moreover, since right now my two monitors are divided up between the Mac and the PC, and the KVM switch was only doing the keyboard, I added a second keyboard and USB mouse directly to the PC, and it did not get confused by having two keyboards or two mice. The Mac also did this, but I was kind of expecting the PC not to be able to handle it. I guess we've come a long way since PS2 keyboards and mice! (Though no keyboard can ever match the feel, layout, and durability, of my Northgate Omnikeys!). (Note that while the Mac handled these mostly fine, and I used the keyboard with the Mac, one of my disappointments was that the Mac will not let you use the alternate cursor and pgup, pgdn, home, end keys on the numeric keypad. On the mac, all keyboards I tried have "permanent" numeric keypads, even if there's a num lock key to let you switch.)

- Griffin PowerMate - I am so happy they have software for Windows. I bought this for my Mac and really became dependent on it (it sits on your desk and allows you to adjust volume or mute the sound "physically" without having to find any on screen controls.

- Plantronics USB Headset (using it with Skype)

Software:

- Firefox 3, of course!

- Next thing I installed was Acronis True Image 2009. That's a system clone, incremental backup program that I've used on previous versions of windows that works great. I upgraded to the latest version as a precaution, rather than installing my version which was 2 years old. Worked great. Did a system backup, set up a hidden restore partition, created a restore disk, all the usual precautions!

- FreeCommander - A great two pane file manager. I haven't played a lot with the new explorer, but this is my staple program for file management. Two panes, horizontal or vertical, each with their own folder tree, can compare two folders, sync them, browse the file contents, open zip, batch file rename, searching etc. All in one window! Works fine. No problems. Runs in 32 bit mode.

- XYExplorer - This is another file manager I used to use before FreeCommander. I still use it though because it has an unindexed file search capability with regular expressions which is almost as fast as an indexed search. A very good file manager too, but I prefer the FreeCommander multipane view to an "all drives in one tree" that this one does, so I use FreeCommander more now. Also, not free, though I own a license from before. Works fine. Runs in 32 bit mode.

- HiJackThis - This is a good thing to load before you need it (it doesn't actually require installation). I logged the "base" system processes and helper apps.

- Skype - Works great, runs in 32 bit mode

- KeePass - Free open source password manager, works great, runs in 32 bit mode.

- Pidgin - Free Open source IM program. Works great, runs in 32 bit mode.

- 4NT - Command line shell I use in my Python development work to give me command line access. This is a pretty old program and it runs fine so far (we'll see once I get python and mysql installed.)

- Ecco - this great PIM program is from 1995, they gave up as soon as outlook came out. But it's a great outliner and PIM, way ahead of it's time and an important program for me. Runs fine under 32 bit mode.

- Adobe Acrobat Professional 9 (latest version)

- Adobe CS4. This (as Kirbic points out) surprisingly installs a 32 bit AND a 64 bit version. And unfortunately, doesn't come with a CS RAW converter that can read Nikon D90 files (which is apparently still in Beta as Lightroom 2.1)

- WAMP! This installs MySQL, PHP, and Apache. It worked fine, but the service didn't run initially because Skype was hogging Port 80. After a little diagnostics, I was able to run the WAMP executive service and Apache. MySQL ran anyway, without a hitch. I haven't tried PHP yet, but I don't see why it would be a problem.

- Navicat 8. A very nice client for MySQL. Runs well in 32 bit mode.

- Journal. (A new journal/notes application I'm trying out - //www.davidrm.com/thejournal)

- Google Chrome. Hadn't tried this yet, but since Firefox seems to be getting out of control in its memory use, I thought I'd give it a try. Seems to run fine in 32 bit mode.

- VNC client (//www.realvnc.com)

- Lightroom 2.0 and then Lightroom 2.1 RC1. Works fine, in 64 bit mode!

- ActiveState Python 2.3 and Pythonwin. Plus all the related libraries. (Ok, I'm a few versions behind :) )

- SmartFTP 3.0 (64 bits!)

- TightVNC (I couldn't connect to my Mac with VNC. But I still can't connect to it. But I can connect to my other PCs, and I really like this client!)

- WinZIP 12.0

- ALZip 7 beta 1

- FileSync (an old app, works fine, 32 bit "forever!")

- XMetal 2.0.3 XML Editor (runs in 32 bit mode)

- OpenOffice 3.0

- SyncBack (free version)

- Thunderbird

- Very old programs:
- Near and Far Designer

Message edited by author 2008-10-22 14:51:58.

Louis

Nikon D800

10/16/2008 01:59:17 PM · #14

Apparently CS4 is shipping as of yesterday, but the Adobe shop kept timing out. I'll be interested in hearing about your experiences with the 64-bit version, should you install it.

And 4NT... holy blast from the past. :-) I used 4DOS too.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

10/16/2008 02:43:52 PM · #15

Originally posted by Louis:

I ordered it last night, but it was listed as "Pending" until about 30 minutes ago, when I finally got the email saying it was ready to download and with my serial numbers. I will be installing it by tonight, along with Lightroom 2.1 and Acrobat 9 Professional. So stay tuned.

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

Canon RF 24-70 f2.8 L IS

10/16/2008 04:54:46 PM · #16

Originally posted by nshapiro:

Originally posted by Louis:
Apparently CS4 is shipping as of yesterday, but the Adobe shop kept timing out. I'll be interested in hearing about your experiences with the 64-bit version, should you install it.

And 4NT... holy blast from the past. :-) I used 4DOS too.

I ordered it last night, but it was listed as "Pending" until about 30 minutes ago, when I finally got the email saying it was ready to download and with my serial numbers. I will be installing it by tonight, along with Lightroom 2.1 and Acrobat 9 Professional. So stay tuned.

Wow... I went on line last night around 8PM CDT and was able to download immediately, with my serial number coming via email before the download even finished... though the DL took a while at 815MB!
I installed and was up and running before 9PM including updating my video card drivers to make sure it played nice with the GPU acceleration in CS4; I played around getting used to the interface and getting things configured to my liking, but did not have too much time to do anything really useful. One thing I did notice is that it apparently installs *both* the 32-bit and 64-bit versions (!).

Apple iPhone 5

10/16/2008 05:02:36 PM · #17

Originally posted by nshapiro:

Will update the rest later...it's time to install openoffice, apache, and mysql!

Ah ha! Now we're getting down to business. Looking forward to hearing how apache and mysql fare under Vista.

10/18/2008 01:55:11 AM · #18

Originally posted by JH:

Originally posted by nshapiro:
Will update the rest later...it's time to install openoffice, apache, and mysql!

Ah ha! Now we're getting down to business. Looking forward to hearing how apache and mysql fare under Vista.

Done and working! Updated the software/hardware list in my earlier post.

And Woo-Hoo! I just got my 30" display to finally work. What's been happening is that the machine would boot up, I'd get all the screens until the final desktop switch, then it would be blank instead of showing me a desktop. I thought it had something to do with the Dual Link hi-res display, but I would have never guessed the real problem--I found it in a forum: the bios settings were set to PCI video, and they needed to be set to PCE-16 (yes, they came set wrong). Apparently, from the forums, this setting causes problems with Vista 64 if it's not set right (but supposedly Vista 32 and XP can deal with it). I changed it to PCE-16, and my Dell 30" monitor is now at a beautiful 2560x1600.

And although I had trouble finding specs for this card (Nvidia 9500GS), it can apparently support dual monitors, though after spending the last few days at 1280x1024, I'm happy to "expand" into 2560x1600 for a while!

10/22/2008 03:07:22 PM · #19

So far so good! I been updating the list in my earlier message below, and so far I haven't found anything that won't run. Except one of my old free password programs, which won't work properly on Vista period (and they say so, trying to get you to upgrade to the pro version).

The one type of app I've discovered "might" cause problems are "Extensions" that integrate with Explorer (windows explorer, not internet explorer), since add-ons need to be designed for the 64 bit interface. However, I added a few programs that add-in as extensions, and while I've taken the latest versions, interestingly, they are 32 bit apps (but perhaps running the extension component as 64 bit apps.)

Notes of interest:

- I managed to convert my Mac Mail (which no longer uses standard MBox format) to thunderbird by using a free program called "emlx to mbox converter". Worked very well, the only thing I lost was the "replied" to flags you see on messages. All attachments etc. went over fine. Phew!

- I keep a folder tree of programs which don't require installation, outside of the program files tree. I call it win32apps, and I generally just move the tree from machine to machine. Many of the apps in there are very old. But so far, everything I've tried has run fine.

The machine is very fast--everything pops up instantly and closes down as quickly--and there are lots of new additions over XP that make Vista worth a look. And the machine has been very stable. I've installed 1.75 TB on top of the initial 500 GB, and as I write this, my machine is transferring data from my Mac over the network to host on this machine. The Mac still may make a good file server (I have another 2.25 terabytes on that)--I ran some benchmarks yesterday which suggested that the Mac over the net was faster than a local USB2 drive, but in practice, when I actually went to copy big blocks of data, I was only getting half the bandwidth of the USB drive.

Still to come:

- I need to do my monitor calibration (and install the eye one software)
- I plan to write some more about the transition from Mac to Vista (and the apps that come with each as I try the Vista apps)

I've been running some benchmarks on the system and my drives (I always do that anyway, as it tells me later on if something is slowing the machine down.

Kirbic, if you're reading this, I'd love to see you run the same disk benchmarks on your RAID setup. I didn't configure RAID, because I wanted to maximize both internal storage space and reliability, and I'm curious to see how much benefit it would have offered!

Message edited by author 2008-10-22 15:18:48.

10/24/2008 10:34:31 AM · #20

Finally did the Eye One (I1) install, and it went fine!

The only problem at all I've had so far was a jumpy mouse, and that seems to be due to the mouse itself (I changed from the wireless HP mouse to a wireless Microsoft mouse, and viola, no more jumpy mouse.) Might just be a reception/distance issue with the HP mouse.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

10/30/2008 10:34:42 AM · #21

Ok, here's a 64bit problem...or maybe just an Adobe problem?

Does anyone have PDF thumbnail preview working (and vista explore preview pane) working in Vista 64?

Searching the web, it seems some can see this, some can't. From what I'm reading, it may in fact be something that gets disabled when you install CS3 or CS4. Or maybe it never worked in Vista 64. I don't recall having seen thumbnails working, but they definitely work on my laptop which is Vista 32 (and doesn't have CS4 installed yet.

It's flustering, since I have a lot of PDF files. I can "browse" them in Bridge, but I want to see something other than the stupid Adobe logo in Explorer as well.

awpollard

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

10/30/2008 10:46:52 AM · #22

Originally posted by nshapiro:

Any of those programs that use the old 32bit explorer shell may not work in a 64bit Explorer shell.

(I posted this on another site for the NEF people who could not do previews...I found the tip somewhere on the net)

Create yourself a 32bit Explorer shortcut on your desktop, use it when you need to use legacy stuff that doesn't work under the 64bit shell. Stuff like no 64bit Codec, Winzip and others they are taking their time to write the 64bit stuff.

(for RAW viewers) Install your 32bit codec.

Simply right click on a blank space on your desktop. Select New > Shortcut > Enter the following text in the field.

%windir%\SysWOW64\explorer.exe /separate

Save the shortcut.

Launch the 32bit Explorer Window shortcut and programs with the 32bit Shell extensions should work. Should work for previewing PDFs as well. Adobe supposedly has their stuff working on 64bit, so who knows.

Message edited by author 2008-10-30 10:48:35.

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

10/30/2008 11:26:53 AM · #23

Thanks Andy -- that was a good idea that I didn't think of.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work. I still can't see thumbnails for PDFs nor previews. It seems the posts I read on the web about Adobe removing the preview DLL from windows when you install a CS version (or maybe Acrobat 9) are correct. There are some posts (not from Adobe) about restoring that functionality by re-adding a DLL and reregistering it, but there's also a bunch of notes about "possible" reasons Adobe is disabling it, including issues of file locking while thumbnails are being created, and "stuck" locks causing problems.

In the meantime, I've been trying the new CS4 bridge, and it's pretty nice for browsing--giving you a lot of control for viewing PDFs (including page by page). I haven't tested the file management aspects of it much, but I'm going to play with it some more.

I'd still like Adobe/Microsoft to address this, or to find a workaround that doesn't introduce problems, but I'm also pretty happy to replace Explorer with a good third party tool (I already use several of these that I like better because they support multiple panes, like FreeCommander, but none of them yet have the preview capability I'm looking for). I have been pretty impressed with the new Windows Vista Explorer though, and if it had multiple pane capabilities and the previews worked, I'd be happy as can be :)

Physics_Guru

Canon EOS-5D

11/02/2008 12:50:44 AM · #24

I have to second the comment about Vista and OSX being completely different monsters each with their pros and cons. I actually switched to Mac after 6 months of frustration with a Vista laptop. I haven't looked back since. That being said, last week I updated my desktop PC from Windows XP 64-bit to Windows Server 2008 SP1 64-bit. Win2k8 Server is basically Vista without all the bloat. I have to admit that I like it a lot better than the pre-SP1 Vista. From what I have heard many people feel the same way... If you use Vista you MUST have SP1! But even though I like the Win2k8 on my desktop I still only use that computer for gaming and my software development. I still use my Mac for everything else... all Adobe products, surfing the net, office documents, etc.

As for the memory leak... that has nothing to do with the OS. The OS does not do "garbage collection" inside of running processes. It is each processes (i.e. program) job to do garbage collection. JAVA has a build in garbage collector where most other languages (most common being C++) do not. A memory leak is nothing more than a process allocating memory during run time and never freeing it up properly when it is done using it. So the memory remains allocated to the process but isn't used. As more and more memory is allocated the system continues to bog down. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the OS can do about it other than terminate the entire process. From a user friendly stand point that would be a very bad idea. So you cannot blame OSX for the memory leaks inside of Lulu. You blame Lulu.