Comprehensive macOS 11.0 Big Sur review: the end of OS X era
Yes, you read that right—Mac OS X (or macOS 10?) is no more. — The era of Mac OS X is over. Kind of. — For the first time in almost two decades, Apple has decided to bump up the version number of the Mac's operating system.
Context & Ripple Effects
This review caps a five-year arc the coverage traces cleanly: High Sierra found macOS 'in catch-up mode' while swapping out the long-serving HFS+ file system, and Mojave then drew a hard line by dropping 32-app support entirely (the last release to run 32-bit apps). Each step pruned legacy compatibility without changing the version number.
Big Sur is where Apple finally changes the number itself — the first major-version bump in nearly two decades, which Ars frames as the symbolic end of the OS X era even as the review calls the release evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
First-order effects
- Mac users and IT teams get their first two-digit macOS version to qualify, with the compatibility bar already raised by Mojave's foundational pruning of old APIs and app architectures.
- Third-party Mac developers who survived the 32-bit cutoff now anchor their roadmap to a platform whose steward has shown it will break compatibility at both the API and branding level.
Second-order effects
- Enterprises and software vendors face compounding re-test cycles — file system, 32-bit removal, then the version-11 jump — pushing more weight onto annual upgrade planning and away from the 'run it forever' Mac reputation.
- Rival desktop platforms can market stability against Apple's cadence of deliberate breaks, making backward compatibility a competitive talking point rather than a given.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, macOS becomes a platform Apple treats as fully replaceable infrastructure — free to shed its own history — which reshapes what long-term support means for anyone building on the Mac.
The trend: Apple is steadily trading the Mac's famous backward compatibility for freedom to rebuild the platform, with each release pruning another layer of the OS X inheritance.