If you use iChat, now known as Messages, be prepared to change your user name or your AOL name if you are running 10.6.8 or older. The reason for this is that Apple has changed its security on iChat so that you will no longer be able to use a Mac.com, or Me.com, or iCloud.com name with the AOL servers after the month of June. AOL has been warning all users in iChat for about a month that iChat service will be interrupted if they are using that type of username on AOL servers - basically you just will not be able to connect. Now I'm not sure why Apple has decided that this needs to happen other than the fact that this drives more people to Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks. The unfortunate part about this is that many people using Snow Leopard and iChat don't have the ability to move to a higher operating system without buying a new computer. Since that cost is fairly significant if you're running an iMac and don't have a separate monitor, Apple may lose some customers to the PC World. I am recommending anyone that has an old tower to purchase a Mac Mini. The Mac Mini makes it easy to use your existing keyboard, mouse and monitor with the Mac Mini to replace your older computer. However I also recommend that you don't get rid of your older computer. One of the things that I have found recently as people move to the new operating system is printers and scanners that are over four years old are unlikely to work under Mavericks. Many pieces of software will break because of the fact they were never designed to work with the Mavericks operating system. Which means if you have a really old version of Microsoft Office it will not function under Mavericks, and we're talking about 2004 and below. Remember AppleWorks does not work anymore also.
Be aware when moving to Mavericks and the new Messages application that there is a big difference in how it operates from iChat. Everything is in one window, with the people that you may be chatting with appearing in a sidebar on the left of the window and you have to click on the person that wants to chat with you to move between chats in the same window. This not only sounds confusing but it is confusing.
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