Big Sur was a landmark release of macOS, in ways both technical and symbolic.

It introduced a major new redesign, it was the first version of macOS to run on Apple's own in-house processors in addition to Intel's, and it was the first version of macOS in nearly 20 years to change the version number.

Welcome to Monterey, macOS version 12.0.

Monterey feels of a piece with maintenance-mode macOS updates like El Capitan or Sierra or High Sierra—change the default wallpaper, and in day-to-day use you can easily forget that you've upgraded from Big Sur at all.

But there are plenty of things to talk about in even the most minor of macOS releases, and Monterey is no different.