@Mrfearless. Your issue actually sounds like the documented issue with Safari. Have you tried this? Safari Known Issues Safari might quit unexpectedly if iCloud Tabs are enabled. (70625636) Workaround: Bypass the Start Page by clicking a URL in a different application, such as Mail or Notes, to open Safari. In Safari > Preferences > General, set “New windows open with:” and “New tabs open with:” to “Empty Page”.

Found a surprising workaround. Simply go into recovery mode (CMD+R). Reinstall Big Sur Beta and do not wipe the existing drive. After the install, everything was unchanged but my system is now updated to 11.0.1. This must be a new feature in Big Sur or a side effect of a failed install that the installer finds and repairs. In either case, I am successfully updated and things overall seem much faster in this new build (20B5012d).

Why does Apple not put this on their App Store Status page?!?!? I mean, what is the point of status page if you won't even update it? https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/