macOS Big Sur is version 11

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After 20 years with Mac OS X, OS X and MacOS version 10.n the version has changed to version 11.

 

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Nathan Parker

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Catalina, as I understand it, has  been a major overhaul of macOS, so that could have been ’11’.

So, why Big Sur (the one released this year and the first after Catalina)? What is about it that explains the change in versioning happening only now?

(Big Sur, the real one, at least as I remember it: a great place to drive by along the Coastal Highway, possible even without wearing a face mask all the time, as one is not likely to meet too many people along the way — a bit too far from San Francisco up North and from LA down South for seeing too much road traffic around there, particularly at times when not many whales are expected to go by in nearby waters; also with not many places where to stop and shop.)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Maybe the new version ties in with the new ARM chip?

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Nathan Parker

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PK, You are probably right: “Maybe the new version ties in with the new ARM chip?”

According to this #2274681 by “anonymous Guest”, the new line of Macs with ARM chips is expected to be released later this year. At that time, if so, it should become quite clear, and probably also quite soon, how Apple will continue to support “Intel” Macs like mine — with still, I believe, several more good years left in it — once it goes “full-ARM” with its new and future lines of Mac computers.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Hands on with the macOS Big Sur developer beta

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Nathan Parker

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Listening to the mindless prattle of the speaker in this video tells me that nothing new that could also be remotely interesting to me is coming with Big Sur, as far as the GUI goes (and the only thing about “Big Sur” apparently worth commenting on, if one just listens to the speaker). But a careful examination of what is shown onscreen indicates that, fortunately, all the older control buttons on the top of the screen are still there while, unfortunately, nothing is said by the gushingly prattling speaker whether there is an option to turn the dark mode off or not, because having it always on would just annoy me, and I would need to either find a way to turn it off, or else throw the Mac in the garbage bin (or send it for recycling somewhere they will take it).

It is always an indication of how clueless the speaker is that he says something to the effect that “we are not going to see an 11.1 or 11.2 release ever again, just versions 12, 13, 14…” Well, now for this breaking news: there will be, most likely, releases numbered 11.1, 11.2, etc, because that numbering system past the “.” denotes incremental upgrades, the equivalent in Windows to security updates plus the old-style Service Packs, numbered by Apple as they are provided for the same OS version, indicated with the leading two digits. What would be gained by changing this logical system? Ask the speaker.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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[Alex5723]

macOS Big Sur: 85+ Top Features/Changes!

Source

• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by Alex5723.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by Paul T.

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Nathan Parker, OscarCP

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[OscarCP]

The video shows some changes that might be of interest to iOS users that are new to Macs, as they are mostly about features transplanted from iOS to the Mac; features whose original purpose was to overcome the limitations of the iPhone interface. There is practically nothing in this video about the new macOS as OS (except for a very brief, “by the way” mention of changes to disk encryption to make user contents more secure), instead just talk about the Graphical User Interface or GUI, in other words, what shows up on the screen and how to click, drag, and do other things there that could be done already fairly well and conveniently with pretty much all earlier versions of macOS, although some with new enhancements that might be handy to use, if one remembers that they actually exist.

One welcome change is the promised increased speed in OS updates, where really take some 20 minutes from the time the whole Gb-size files have been downloaded, unless one has a new super-workstation Mac Pro (I suppose).

One disappointment, is that the Accessibility features do not include the voice-reading of text on screen, with what to be read being directed by the user’s voice commands naming the coordinates (e.g., “read 9, K”) of a particular point on a grid across the screen. This could be a tremendous bonus to the blind and those with very poor eyesight. A couple of new features that show the means to do this are already coded in the software, but at Apple they have not joined the dots, yet. Instead, 100% of what is covered on this video is about what people with useful eyesight can do with the new GUI features. One might hope some independent developers will come up with this feature before they realize at Apple its empowering value to some users.

The main improvement to the GUI that I see as being of some real importance to users, particularly those with shaky hands, is that the icons in the dock bar are now larger, with the bar being a little taller and wider to accommodate them in their new sizes.

But to those of us currently in good physical nick, there is hardly anything in the new GUI, as described in the video, to set our hearts beating faster. Unless, perhaps, one is into installing Internet of Things gadgets around the house, or frequently uses certain iCloud features, or plays certain games on line. And that’s a ‘maybe.’

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by OscarCP.

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Alex5723, Nathan Parker, Elly

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I thought the new accessibility features already made it into Catalina, but I’d have to double check.

Nathan Parker

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Nathan,

Looking around I have found three accessibility features already in Mojave, the version of macOS before the current one (Catalina) that could help blind people or at least those with poor sight. They may be also available in Catalina. I am not sure how practical these would be in the case of the completely blind, although could be of some help. Those with enough sight to figure out what might be on the screen and where, could benefit considerably, I think. The features require the ability to use a keyboard, either by being able to find the keys without having to look at them and, or by using a Braille keyboard.

The features, with a brief description of each are:

VoiceOver  It provides descriptions: spoken (reads out loud), or Braille (through a Braille haptic device) of selected text on the screen, following keyboard and voice commands.

Dictation: It allows to edit text and interact with the computer using voice commands.

Speech: Reads selected text when a shortcut-type key combination is entered and stops when the same key combination is pressed again. Also announces things that need taking care of, such as newly available updates of applications or the OS.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Nathan Parker

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Those are some of them. Here are all of the features included with Catalina and later, as well as there are links to other Apple products:

https://www.apple.com/accessibility/mac/

Nathan Parker

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OscarCP

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macOS Big Sur vs. macOS Catalina: Side-by-Side UI Design Comparison

The comparison shows how Apple is moving iPadOS and macOS towards each other, and bigger default icons and UI elements hint towards a possible touchscreen Mac in the future.

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Nathan Parker

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Having read the article linked by Alex, I find the following paragraph interesting as well as correct:

“The developer says that he didn’t find the redesign as dramatic as he first thought. He mentions that macOS Big Sur feels like an incremental update to make macOS feel more coherent with iOS and iPadOS. He also thinks that Apple still has a vast amount of work to do before it can release the final version of macOS Big Sur. Particularly, he mentioned that the company needs to work on path bars and status bars, which feel out of place in the current beta version of macOS Big Sur.”

I would put the emphasis on “incremental update”, as it is more like “very slightly incremental”, judging from what is shown in this article. I also think that the company has to work, and has been working on a lot more than path bars and status bars. The switch from CISC to RISC CPUs and the necessary backward compatibility features in the operating system, for example. Something that, curiously, has not been mentioned in the article. At all.

As to the “hint” to a future touch screen in future Macs, I would be fine with that, as long as I can disable it. I am interfacing with the computer just fine as things are now, and have been from the beginning.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Nathan Parker, Alex5723

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There were some hints from Apple that the new ARM Macs will only come with Apple’s GPU and no 3rd party discrete GPU.

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Nathan Parker, OscarCP

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Apple’s Homegrown Chips Could Be the End for AMD Graphics in Macs

…But one of the things the company pointed out during its developer session is the difference between Apple GPUs and third-party GPUs. Apple GPU architecture is a tile-based deferred renderer (TBDR), and Intel, Nvidia, and AMD are immediate mode renderer GPUs (IMR)….TBDR captures the entire scene before it starts to render it, splitting it up into multiple small regions, or tiles, that get processed separately, so it processes information pretty fast and doesn’t require a lot of memory bandwidth. From there, the architecture won’t actually render the scene until it rejects any and all occluded pixels.

On the other hand, IMR does things the opposite way, rendering the entire scene before it decides what pixels need to be thrown out. As you probably guessed, this method is inefficient, yet it’s how modern discrete GPUs operate, and they need a lot of bandwidth to do so.

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OscarCP, Nathan Parker

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Touch screen went through my mind as well when seeing Big Sur. The spacing of the icons and larger icons seems to hint at this.

Nathan Parker

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I don’t believe Apple will move to touch screen on the Macs, but maybe Big Sur is ready for the iPad

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OscarCP

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Oh, no. Not you too, Apple. I really hoped the talk of such things was just talk, but if I saw larger, wider-spaced icons, I’s think the same thing. It seems to be a siren call that every GUI developer hears, and they’ve been hearing it for at least 8 years. On that time, I haven’t yet seen any GUI meant to work on both that wasn’t just awful. My opinion, of course, but I doubt I am all that unique in terms of my GUI preferences. The entire premise of Cinnamon and MATE desktops is to skip the touch compromises and retain/restore the GUI quality for the PCs that people actually use, rather than the ones they think someday we will all use, if we defy that other prediction and keep using PCs after we’re all supposed to have moved to Android or iOS.

Even though I don’t use a Mac, it is nice to have a commercial OS to point the actual way with the ever-useful, definitely non-obsolete non-touch desktop or laptop. I get so tired of software design based on what is trendy rather than usability.

I hope the icon spacing is not a sign of things to come with Macs.

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OscarCP, Elly, Myst

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For a while I never thought we’d see a touch screen Mac. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to bring touch screens to the Mac should Apple ever release one. Most of the industry has done touch screens on computers the wrong way. If Apple does go down this direction, I see them doing it the right way. I figured out how Apple could build the ultimate hybrid device that is 100% notebook Mac and 100% touch screen tablet and not compromise in either direction the rest of the industry has.

Nathan Parker

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