Apple releases Mac OS Big Sur, a total revamp of its desktop operating system
Friday, November 13, 2020 at 12:04PM 
Despite a long gestation period and a botched launch day yesterday, Apple's biggest revamp to its mac OS "Big Sur" is now available for download. Weighing in at over 12 GB, this is a hefty visual and functional upgrade to compatible mac desktops and laptops. A lot of the look and feel is reminiscent of iOS 14, and this is no surprise since Big Sur has been optimized for Apple Silicon which Apple is transitioning to by way of new hardware.
Notable updates are the return of the startup chime, additoonal controls and the return of widgets that help push information forward without needing to open apps. The Safari browser is also faster, safer, and more privacy-oriented and now feels faster than Google Chrome, which is a resource hog on Macs. The spit and polish extends to Apple's native apps like Mail, Maps, Messages, and Notes offer new features and better integration. The big benefit of Big Sur on Apple Silicon macs is that they will be able to run iOS apps, while this sounds great in theory, mac OS still does not offer multi-touch control, so while having access to these apps is a cool feature, they will not be running in an optimized environment.