Another beta version of Big Sur? Thought we were past the betas, although a beta version prior to the next release could make sense. But happening so fast after the initial, non-beta release?
For at least the last two MacOS versions (Mojave and Catalina) and now Big Sur the first beta of the x.1 release has been in the hands of developers, and public beta testers, a few days prior to the initial product release. This is not another beta of MacOS 11.0.1 (which was the actual initial release version of Big Sur), it is the second beta of the MacOS 11.1 update which will be likely be released in the next month to six weeks. Apple simultaneously released tvOS 14.2 beta 2, WatchOS 7.2 Beta 2, and iOS/iPadOS 14.3 beta 2 at the same time. (Normally all would have been x.1 beta 2, but Big Sur is a bit out of synch because its initial release was delayed to correspond with the availability of Apple Silicon.) Updates are typically released every six weeks to two months throughout the OS lifecycle. Early updates sometimes include new features that were previously beta tested but had been left out of the initial release, because Apple wasn't satisfied with their stability or performance at release time. In this case, I suspect most changes will revolve around Apple Silicon as that is by far the least tested part of the system.
NOTE: Public beta testers frequently do not get the first beta release and generally do not get any release until at least 24 to 48 hours after application developers get it.
Last edited by joemikeb; 11/19/2001:04 AM.
If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?
