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2020 is the Twentieth Anniversary of Mac OS X What does the future hold ?

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If the software transition is to become as trivial as they are making out, then support for Intel could last many many years yet.
Good point.
 
If so, then what is the point of Arm if performance on intel is better? Maybe we might see a dual/hybrid approach. Where Apple releases both Arm and Intel based macs. Can be Arm for small form factor (MacBook/Mac mini) and Intel for Desktop? We need more info...

But they used a Mac Pro to demo Big Sur. So I think its not limited to small form factor.
 
I'm not thrilled that the Big Sur GUI looks so iPhone/iPad iOS like. The transition to this started way back in Yosemite in 2014 so I could see this coming for a long time. Will Macbooks and Macbook Pros eventually have touchscreens ? Looks like that may happen too in the next few years.

What I do like is that it's now called macOS 11.0
Screen Shot 31.jpg


Does that mean we'll get macOS 12.0 next year ? Or will it be 11.1 ? I'd guess that each year the version will increase by one so it will be macOS 12.0. That way it falls in line with all the other OS versions for other lines like TV and iPad and WatchOS.
 
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Direct quote from Tim: "We expect to ship Intel-based Macs for years to come." I think he also said Intel versions of macOS for Intel based Macs. Didn't think anything like this would happen. Could get very confusing for customers.

But for large purchasers of Macs, like corporations and educational institutions, I don't think they are confused. Purchases of Intel based Macs are being seriously reviewed and in many cases, these purchase orders will be withheld.

I have spec'd equipment for Silicon Valley firms and I think a lot of those organizations will be highly reticent to complete any purchase on this kind of product, an Intel based Mac. They might be more interested in waiting for the ARM based Macs to purchase. More likely is that they will just switch to Windows computers to save all the hassle.
 
More likely is that they will just switch to Windows computers to save all the hassle.
Or boot into Windows on their Mac Pros via bootcamp.
 
Or boot into Windows on their Mac Pros via bootcamp.

I tend to think maybe not. Remember, not only are Intel Macs premium priced ($$$), but they also create computer support challenges and complexities, and many other costs that I think a lot of companies (particularly now) would prefer to avoid.

But, I could be wrong. We'll see.....
 
New Icon Design in macOS Big Sur

Apple decided to make all the Big Sur icons have a chiclet shaped "rounded square" design, just like those in iOS and iPad OS. Looks to me like they want to make it more touch friendly. So there's a good possibility a new AS Macbook will be touch capable.

Screen Shot 16.jpg

I really liked the old Mail icon. Now we've got this very generic and boring new one in Big Sur. Not sure who makes these decisions at Apple but they surely are going in the wrong direction with macOS 11. Seems that they are going more for the generic look that you get in Windows 10. Why Apple, why would you do that ?

1593603908218.png

MS Mail app. At least Apple rounded off the corners of the square. Adding the drop shadow really does nothing for the Apple Mail icon though.


In the early days of my transition to hackintosh (2012) you could easily change your icons to whatever you wanted. Apps like CandyBar made it incredibly easy to do this. https://panic.com/blog/candybar-mountain-lion-and-beyond/

Apple took away these options many years ago and it doesn't look like that will ever be possible again. Whomever created the new Launchpad icon should be fired immediately. They put 9 colored chiclets inside of a larger grey colored chiclet. The old version was laughable too. Never liked it at all. At least we still have the option to remove these from the Dock instead of having to see them constantly.

Screen Shot 17.jpg
 
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I'm going to hold off for quite some time before upgrading to Big Sur. Not because of the many "downgraded icons" but because of the number one reported experience of using macOS still in Beta:

Screen Shot 12.jpg
 
@trs96,

Based on the early reports from beta testers and backed up by the WWDC keynote video, Big Sur (BS :p) is basically nothing more than a cosmetic make over of the MacOS GUI ... they have turned the look of MacOS into Mac IOS, there are no real new features as such. History has shown us that every time Apple overhauls the MacOS GUI, performance seems to tank and then it gradually get better with each subsequent update/release.

I for one will not be updating anytime soon to BS (Mac IOS) the more I see of it the more i'm put off by it's new look, some of those new icons are truly awful as is the default wallpaper which looks like it was ripped straight from a version of Android to me, really not sure what they where thinking with that.

To my eyes BS looks like an OS for children with simple icons and bright colours.

Of course looks are subjective and i'm sure that many will like the new look but for now I'll be happy to keep running Catalina until Apple force me to update which will most likely be when they make their pro apps (FCPX and Logic) only run on it.

Cheers
Jay
 
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@trs96,

Based on the early reports from beta testers and backed up by the WWDC keynote video, Big Sur (BS :p) is basically nothing more than a cosmetic make over of the MacOS GUI ... they have turned the look of MacOS into Mac IOS, there are no real new features as such. History has shown us that every time Apple overhauls the MacOS GUI, performance seems to tank and then it gradually get better with each subsequent update/release.

I for one will not be updating anytime soon to BS (Mac IOS) the more I see of it the more i'm put off by it's new look, some of those new icons are truly awful as is the default wallpaper which looks like it was ripped from a version of Android to me, really not sure what they where thinking with that.

To my eyes BS looks like an OS for children with simple icons and bright colours.

Of course looks are subjective and i'm sure that many will like the new look but for now I'll be happy to keep running Catalina until Apple force me to update which will most likely be when they make their pro apps (FCPX and Logic) only run on it.

Cheers
Jay


Good points. It is especially hard to envisage how Pro App Developers are going to fit their serious software into such a whimsical look, never mind any CPU conversion tasks.
 
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