This Just In: Apple Updates

Why I’m Using Google Chrome Again…

Apple announced macOS 11 and iOS 14 earlier this week. While the public releases are a few months away, developer betas are available now. When betas come out, I usually ignore the warnings and dive in headfirst, installing them on my computer and my phone. No safety net, no problem. This year I’m proceeding with a little more caution.

When I changed careers earlier this year, I entered the corporate world where devices are provided. For the first time in over a decade, I wasn’t using my personal computer for work. I unlocked the deep recesses of my brain and pulled up the muscle memory necessary for Microsoft Office and Windows.

As COVID numbers continue to climb here in Orlando, we moved into a hybrid work schedule. Half the week I’m in the office using a Windows PC and half the week I’m working from home on my Mac. In order to keep everything in sync across platforms, I’m now relying on a number of non-Apple products — namely Google Chrome (?) and Microsoft OneDrive. I don’t trust either of these apps to work seamlessly on the latest macOS beta ( OneDrive barely works as it is), so Apple’s new features must wait.

At the same event, Apple announced a transition of its computers to Apple Silicon. Starting “later this year” Apple will once again produce the processors in its computers.

I purchased my first Mac in 2006 when Apple transitioned its computers from PowerPC to Intel. I bought the first polycarbonate Intel iMac, released around my birthday that year. If the rumors are to be believed, it looks like my next Mac might be the first Apple Silicon iMac, again, sometime around my birthday. This is the final eagerly awaited piece of the home office puzzle. Well, that and a number of things we need to frame and hang up.

When that computer is released, I won’t need to worry about installing betas of macOS 11 — it’ll come preinstalled. Will OneDrive and Chrome work? That remains to be seen. Either way, at that point I’m diving into the deep end of the pool.