1y ago

The Release Date and Key Features of Windows 12 Unveiled

ux-news.com /the-release-date-and-key-features-of-windows-12-unveiled/

I...didn't think windows 12 was actually a thing but here we are?

181 comments

Lol. Remember when W10 was to be the "final" one?
- The "10 year OS" that was 2015. Guess profits got in the way.
  Oh and 10 didn't track you enough or put enough ads in the OS.
  
  This is just my own take, but I feel like at least part of the reason they went back to releasing new versions is because of the recent resurgence of macOS. Not only do Macs have the excitement of Apple Silicon, but they have annual "new" OS releases; even if not much has changed, it creates excitement with their fanbase. I think Microsoft realized that it's not very exciting to just be on Windows 10 forever. So we got Windows 11.
  
  Well, Win10 Home and Pro EOL is late 2025, so it's tecnically correct...
  
  It wasn't the profits or ads that got in the way.
  It was the security that got in the way. (remember the whole TPM module thing?)
  Iterating the version number was just a convenient excuse to throw more ads, and tracking in.
- They meant it was going to be the final one worth installing
- Actually XP was supposed to be the last one. Service Packs were supposed to be the future of OS updates/upgrades.
- Apparently the source of that wasn't an official statement by Microsoft. It was some offhand comment in a dev conference that kind of got out of control.
- It might be for me. Not sure when I’ll refresh my hardware to something with TPM but I’m not feeling any rush.
- The final one with the number 10, obviously.

Huh, and I've never even used Windows 11...
- I didn't even know it had released yet. And at my job they're still using 10.
  
  11 is almost just a reskin of 10
  
  In fairness I’ve been a Mac user since 2007, but even with my occasional flirtations with Windows, I’ve not used anything higher than 10.
  My wife’s machine is running 10. I heard her trying to install 11 via a VM the other day to see how she got on with it, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone swear at a computer quite so much in quite so short a period of time.
  Her machine is still running 10.
  
  At my job there are many computers with Windows 7 still. I guess it doesn't really matter as long as the software we need keeps working.
- Neither of my old Windows boxes will run 11, so they won't run 12 either. And I'm oh so broken up about it.
  
  Looks like your boxes will soon need to meet a new antarctic friend.
- I used it for about 6 months, and I just couldn't take it. I wiped it and installed Windows 10.

Remember when Windows 10 was "the last operating system"?
- Yeah, it was supposed to be a subscription model that they would continuously update. They have not lived up to that promise...
  
  They probably did a user survey and found out that moving windows to a subscription would cause 100% of users to switch to Mac / Linux
- Here’s a good article about that: https://www.pcworld.com/article/394724/why-is-there-a-windows-11-if-windows-10-is-the-last-windows.html
  Apparently that wasn’t really ever Microsoft’s official stance.
- Pepperidge farm remembers. I had the same thought. lol

with a 64-bit chip operating at a frequency of at least 1000 megahertz continuing to meet the requirements
Wrong. The requirement for Windows 11 is "processor introduced on the market after the year 2018, with absolutely no regards on its computational power" (with a single exception to the specific CPU of the $3500 Microsoft surface studio because they continued to sell the machine with the same old processor for five years)
For example an i7-7700K is "unsupported" but the much slower and with less features atom-based Celeron j4005 is "supported".
The hardware requirements are completely artificial and clearly decided in agreement with Intel and AMD in order to sell more new computers
- Is 2018 maybe when TPM modules started going on every motherboard?
  
  No, most tpm implementation nowadays are integrated in the CPU. And Intel 6th gen onwards have tpm 2.0 in the CPU, but they're not supported for "reasons"
  
  Tpm was definately included in the 7000 series intels, along with nvme support etc.
  That said tpm 2 is a bit more recent and more secure. That said. It’s lazyness on the part of Microsoft to require tpm 2
- The i7-7700k is my exact CPU, and I was wondering why my update screen always claimed I was out of spec for Win 11. Then I did some digging and it seems that some CPUs are more equal than others in that regard. Then I got Win 11 on my work computer and didn't want Win 11 anymore.

KDE developers: okay so we're gonna switch to a floating taskbar so we look less like a Windows clone
Windows developers: hey guys I have a crazy idea

Already??? Windows 11 just came out
- 2 years ago? That's seems like a normal cadence for OS releases.
  
  Well, we had Windows 10 for over 5 years before Windows 11. 10 was supposedly the last version they were doing, so it's a little surprising they're back to regular major releases now.
  
  Huh, outside of a few outliers, I guess major Windows releases generally come quicker than I thought
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Microsoft_Windows_versions
- 2-3 years is actually a reasonable time for Windows releases, going by historical dates. I think we're all used to the long gap between Windows 10 and Windows 11
  
  For home use, maybe. It will upset corporate customers to no end with a 2-3 release cycle. The app vendors won't keep up, keeping the workplace a mess and well behind the new release curve. Deal with this on the Windows server side of things all the time. We're trying to drag our app vendors off Windows 2012, and they are only coming kicking and screaming. Most only support up to 2016, which we find insane.

Key features include subscription fees, only-online capacity, baked in popup ads in every folder and directory, is slower than windows 7, and also streams your webcam to anyone who pays them enough.
/hj

Nah, this is pure speculation. The only source is Microsoft saying they are working on some next gen stuff, could just as well be a major upgrade to W11.

Are they going to let us move the damn taskbar this time?
- Maybe in 3 years. They only just brought ungrouping taskbar icons back in the beta lol

According to the source, Microsoft wants to make the taskbar appear to float above the desktop by separating it from the desktop and rounding off the corners.
...why?
- To bridge the gap to Windows 13, which will put it in the middle of the screen.
  
  The Taskbar is the screen in Win 13
- In an effort to make the user experience even shittier? Or maybe one of the suits saw their kid with a custom linux desktop and was like: we need to get these kids off that linux crap, and clearly the floating task bar is the clincher! *does a giant rip of cocain *
- My cynical take - it's what MacOS looks like and they've been throwing away their own identity to copy Apple for years now.
  
  I don't see why this is cynical. They fell pretty flat on their face with windows 8 (no explanation necessary) and then made a Frankenstein job out of windows 10. I have zero idea what the plan is here.
- I can see a few reasons for this.
  Whenever Explorer.exe crashes, it takes down the desktop including the taskbar. They are probably trying to separate the taskbar from the desktop.
  It's a new style and people expect to see a unique style with every Windows version change. Of course, if you really want to you can make Windows 11 look like Windows 98 with a few button presses afaik.
  3 a) It potentially looks like they might start auto-hiding the taskbar by default which could be interesting. If they are and they allow applications to maximize to the full borders of your monitor, that could potentially be awesome.
  3 b) auto-hiding the taskbar frees up real estate and if you put on a tin foil hat you can say that Microsoft is going to use that newfound real estate to show ads to users and will justify it because they only take up less space than you were missing before, it's no big deal, right? (This is highly unlikely and Windows as an OS hasn't really shown people ads yet. The most it's done is shipped with minor bloatware apps.)
  
  They are probably trying to separate the taskbar from the desktop.
  I'm 99.9% sure this is only visual, without major changes under the hood.
  
  Windows as an OS has absolutely been showing ads for a long time. Ads for their own stuff for the most part, but those are still ads. They pop stuff up all over the place advocating for paid OneDrive plans or Office 365 or whatever.

They are necessitating 8GB of RAM. for what?! Like, it would be a struggle to find a machine with less than 8GB still being sold new, sure, but why does the OS need that RAM?
- Microsoft: "Gotta keep all of the telemetries and AI running 24/7 of course!"
  
  Every day I'm closer to trying Linux again.
  
  Fedora linux: If Microsoft does this why not us?
- It's not that the OS needs that amount of RAM, it's that it's lifting the floor for what a modern PC will have, which is a good thing. I can't wait for the day windows requires an SSD.
  
  I mean, Windows 10+ should only be used on an SSD for the OS install, even if it's not explicitly required.
  So long as it doesn't outright block us from doing what we choose to on our PC's, there should be a recommended settings minimum that differs from the minimum.
- Maybe because most programs you'd use (browser, word processor, spreadsgeets, etc) requires 8+ gb, and the non-windows side of MS wanted the requirements so edge, word, excel, etc are guaranteed to actually work on every computer that ships with those programs?
- To be honest, I think 8 GB is a more realistic requirement for light tasks nowadays, but not because of Windows - even Windows 10 would struggle with Chrome, Word, Excel, etc on just 4 GB, and I can't imagine that W11 is any better. Increasing the requirements would ensure that OEMs won't put Windows 12 on shitbox PCs with 4 GB and call them usable, just because they meet the bare-minimum standards.
  
  Yeah, I guess. It seems wasteful to need 8GB just to run an OS and browser especially after Microsoft was pushing server core specifically to go the opposite route with resource utilization on servers.

Why do they insist on dicking around with the taskbar?
- The Windows 10 taskbar is just better. The Windows 11 taskbar moves things to the middle by default for some reason, violating Fitt's law, and removes several features of the Windows 10 taskbar without improving anything as far as I can tell. The new taskbar in the screenshot makes it even harder to click things by making them farther from the bottom of the screen, and makes the right side of the taskbar take up more space.
  The new system tray is laughable. The icons cannot be that size. Imagine 16 icons of that size, but half of them are 24x24 or smaller icons scaled up.
  One possible improvement with the new taskbar is that even though they have useless search and task switch buttons and the date+time takes up an unnecessary amount of horizontal space, they don't have any of the other visual clutter like news and weather tickers.
  
  The only reason I could possibly think a middle aligned taskbar is better would be for ultra wide setups. But even then, just make it a non default drop-down in settings and only a default if an ultra wide resolution is used.
- Change for the sake of change. If it didn't look significantly different, users would question why the upgrade. Doesn't matter if they made significant, positive (being charitable here) change if the user experience didn't change. Been there, done that.

Tired of windows messing their UI every next monday? You will love linux!
- Yes sir, until you update your video driver and never see your screen again. I jest a little bit, but watching linus do that cracks me up every time.
- Yeah! There it's you fucking up your UI every next Monday because you're not mentally well, and you can't let good enough be good enough
  
  There needs to be some middle ground between so much control that simple things that should be obvious breaking your computer isn't as possible as it currently is.
  Linux has a learning curve yes, it also has several hurdles that seem to be an unnecessary byproduct of having total control over your OS.
- Meanwhile, Xbox Series S/X:

So 2025 is the year I finally move my desktop to Linux and run windows in a VM I guess. I still have a few apps that just do not play nicely in Wine that would make transitioning fully more difficult, but I've been full Linux on my laptop for years. Maybe I can finally make the jump on PC.
- My last one left is PCVR with the Quest 2. I wonder whether that works through a VM.
  
  When you're using a Facebook VR headset and accompanying software, Windows is probably not your biggest concern
  
  You might want to give ALVR a try. I don't use it since I have an Index but I heard good things about it.
  https://github.com/alvr-org/alvr
- Which apps are those? Just curious - I know there are others in this situation and I'm always interested in hearing what apps are the blocking ones for a transition from Windows.
  
  Photoshop for me. Yeah I can get it running under Linux, but it keeps crashing, or is buggy.
  And no, Gimp is not a good replacement if anyone goes there.
  
  For me it's Fusion 360. The launcher for it opens your browser to log you in via the Web. Wine doesn't seem to support that.
  DCS has some sort of time/zone issue preventing me from logging in.
  My MX Master scroll wheel behaves oddly.
  Other than that it's been not awful since I switched to Linux last month.
  
  Mine is the Affinity suite of image manip software. I don't use it often, but I do use it often enough that I maintain a Windows box to be able to do so. That and I play a few games occasionally (at this point pretty rarely) that just work better/at all under Windows rather than Linux. Like 90% of what I do with my computers is great under Linux, but those last few elements make me not want to dump Windows entirely.

I'm not usually a "Windows is terrible" kind of peron, but dramatically changing the main UI every 2 years is the fastest way to get me to change to Linux on my daily driver.
- I'm already using Linux as mine. I pretty much only use windows for gaming at this point
  
  I use my PS5 for gaming. I wonder if it’s time to make the jump.

Apparently they're going to move the system files to their own protected partition in 12, first good Microsoft change?
- But I loved having Windows deciding it owns my boot partition and formatting over my bootloader
  
  God this is the fucking worst. Why would they ever make this decision? ~~aside from annoying dualbooters~~
  
  Even after the fact? On every dual boot I've ever had, I always install windows first and then whatever else.

why are the comments on most news articles on here so negative or cynical :(
I think the floating tasbar looks nice
- I'm this particular case, I think there is a lot to criticize.
  8GB minimum RAM is a lot of requirement for an OS. It makes Microsoft look like they have forgotten what an OS is supposed to be doing.
  The floating taskbar might look nice, but to me it looks like they are trying to mimic MacOS or Gnome3. While there's nothing wrong with that, it does seem like Microsoft is not innovating so much as following.
  I think many people are just jaded by Microsoft, though. The last couple of releases have been kinda meh and with them dropping support for older hardware entirely and sunsetting support for Windows 10 soon they are leaving a lot of users out to dry.
  As a developer who has to support Windows 11 currently, I find the prospect of Windows 12 replacing 10 to be cause for worry. Windows 11 has been a nightmare to support just due to the API not being idempotent with 10. Queries that work in 10 don't work anymore in 11.
  
  8GB minimum RAM is a lot of requirement for an OS. It makes Microsoft look like they have forgotten what an OS is supposed to be doing.
  I wonder if they have plans for the developing countries, or if they will support windows 10 for much longer, because, if they expect most of us to meet the minimum specs, they're crazy.
- And with all that telemetry and AI, the floating taskbar thinks you look nice too. Click here to buy Tay Sway concert tickets!
- Typically on Reddit users responded to news about any changes to Windows with complete vitriol, so I'm honestly not surprised it's happening here.
  
  Typically all of humanity has since XP.
- It's visually pleasing, but very impractical.
- Lol, yeah, let's waste even more screen real estate. Not having small icons as an option in win 11 was already anoying, especially on laptops.

Oh boy, it'll only run on brand new hardware! Gotta make sure it can run integrated, unswitch-offable OpenClippy GPT or whatever.
- it’ll only run on brand new hardware!
  https://www.sparkfun.com/products/16811
  Unless I missed something that $75 raspberry pi meets the minimum specs for Windows 12
  
  You're right!
  Sorry I was just reading about how there was talk of higher minimum requirements (8gb ram, with 16gb recommended) but that was before official release info.

highly anticipated Windows 12
Microsoft wants to make the taskbar appear to float above the desktop by separating it from the desktop and rounding off the corners
Who gets excited about that!?
Plus, all the (always online, storing everything we say, type and look at) AI features should be looked at critically and not with high anticipation.

chromeOS meets early KDE4. Weird. I don't like Windows 11 either so but I managed to get rid of most of the crap. Should've gone for Windows 10 on my gaming machine but since I use Ubuntu 99% of the time, it's not worth the effort. At least I figured out how to install and use Windows 11 without a Microsoft account. I'd rather depend on Steam on Linux than use a computer with a Microsoft account hooked in.
I'm seriously wondering if we've hit rock button in terms of UI flatness.

Will they actually manage to put all options in a single menu this time? Because it's hilarious that I have to use Options and the a Control Panel in Win11

Looks like chromeOS a bit.
- If the rumours of it running in the cloud are true, it'll act like it n'all.
  
  Wait, does that mean I wouldn't be able to use my own computer offline? If so then that's a no from me, dawg.

...and we'll be calling it windowsOS 12. It has a revolutionary taskbar which is so new that we gave it an innovative new name: Dack!

These are just the pictures of windows 11, just they made the taskbar float off the bottom
It seems suicidal of Microsoft to release the simplistic version as the first pictures again though...
Unless something changes, there will be options to move the buttons to the left of the bar and make it look closer to older versions again. Of course they could decide not to go that route, but they did this exact same awful release with 11.

It will be interesting to know how much AI integration it gets. To me, I think Microsoft will use it as an excuse for telemetry and personal data. They already explored ads on the OS, so I can imagine selling you stuff while trying to use AI tools while trying to do your work. May be a subscription to copilot.
They know that they capitalize can capitalize on AI faster than any major OS developer, but how much value will be given by the user?
- Browsing your files? Why wouldn't you need an ad pushed in your face?
  
  Lol. It’s highly probable that adds still exists but not on the explorer. May be if you ask AI to tell you which games are the most played, it will shove an Game Pass subscription or an Xbox.

laughs in ubuntu

Windows 11 still feels like a beta... Have they completely given up on quality?
- How does it feel like a beta exactly? What doesn't work?

I dunno how I feel about it. My desktop which is a port of 10-> 11 is fine. My laptop which is a w11 native, is all fucked up. The file path is c/wahots/Onedrive/desktop, and onedrive is broken, so I can't save files to certain directories. Even remapping directories doesn't work. It's a miserable experience. I'm thinking of backing up everything and getting some sort of clean license, as this Asus one is all fucked up.
- You can always just format it.
- It should be digitally licensed. So installing a fresh copy will automatically activate.
  That being said, you should also be able to search for "Reset this PC" in your start menu and choose "Remove everything". That will effectively give you a fresh install without creating installation media.
  
  Won't that give me the dirty factory image with all the BS like McAfee, amorycrate, all that?

New Windows release already? Looks like Microsoft has realised that its old model of selling major upgrades was more profitable than the Windows 10 strategy.

I'm so damn glad I helped my whole family move over to Linux years ago.

Don't understand why it's so hard to create a consistent, clean looking windows UI. I get having to support ancient apps but so much of the experience feels unpolished

I've tried almost a dozen distros in the last couple of days. Only a couple of them see my second monitor, and none of them pick up my WiFi card. Guess what does every time? Windows 11. It's been rock solid, fast and smooth.
Now I could put in a usb adapter for WiFi and fiddle around to get the other monitor to liven up, but I shouldn't have to. I did this for Manjaro, and I was hopeful. On the second day it crapped out.
I didn't want to like Windows. I used to be a die hard Mac boy, my first computer was a Mac portable. Apple polo shirt, tie and lapel pins, wallet, watch with Apple logo. I even printed my own t-shirts. 'The box said Windows 95 or better, so I bought a Mac' etc.
Gave up a few years ago when they became more fashion items than tools.
I've tinkered with Linux since Hardy Heron and Mandriva, and Chromebooks since they first came out. It always needed tinkering, nothing just worked for too long. Mac did. Mind you, Windows was crappy back then though.
Perhaps it's because I'm on the Windows Insider programme but I really have no problem with 11. OK it has some guff that I don't need but I've removed that. And sure it's not as customisable as Linux distros, then again neither is Mac.
For me 11 just works. It syncs to my phone as soon as it's in range. KDE Connect never did. I can run Android apps now (yes I know Chromebooks can) so Samsung Notes is my go to Notes app ever since Evernote went down the pan. OneNote is a pile of old fish parts.
I'll keep trying distros though, I have to as my old HP laptop which dual boots MX Linux (that's been flawless on the laptop) and Peppermint, won't run Windows 11. I have a 'new' older laptop coming soon and that probably won't run 12 ;-)
But for now the daily driver is Windows 11.
Blimus, that was longer than I expected 😮

Holy Shit Windows 11 just got Vista'd

Too late. I switched to MacOS.
I got sick of edge hijacking my chrome tabs, and then opening on bootup (despite being set not to).
Selling my Xbox Series X too and swapped to PS5.. (Remote Play on PS5 actually works on my computer)
- Likewise, I had a “high end” business laptop, that didn’t have many alternatives in the windows ecosystem, and replaced it with a 14” base m1 mbp.
  The battery lasts 3x longer on the Mac than on the old laptop, and I can generally get significantly better performance in photoshop and Lightroom without dealing with the dual gpu problems that windows laptops have. Additionally, my heavy compilation workloads in Go are almost 2x as fast on battery, and around 1.3x when plugged in.
  Top that with a screen and speakers that are so much better there just isn’t a comparison. Windows laptops are a joke unless they live plugged in
  
  Yep.. I used to hate MacOS (used to work at an AppleCentre). But, sometimes it almost feels like Microsoft tries to screw us over, and then reverts only if we complain.
  The only issue I have, is Netflix performs poorly on my HDMI screen on my Mac Studio (everything else is fine).. I suspect its related to Widevine/DRM though (and might be why there is no netflix app on MacOS)
  Aero Peek and such though in Windows is a lot nicer than MacOS imho.. I installed magnet (not as good, but better).
  I do feel Windows was ahead in some areas, but when you can't get your own console showing properly on your own computer OS, thats embarressing..

Looks like a UnixPorn user's setup, a messier one at that.

Big pass.
- Sponsored by Game-Pass ~

I’ll take some more spyware thanks Microsoft ☺️!

Glad I got my steam deck. I’ll continue to use it until deck 2 releases. Maybe I’ll even be as bold to build a pc with linux on it.

"Windows 10 will be the last Windows."
Anyone remember?
I'm glad I did the jump to Linux after 7, after the Windows 10 trial suicided and took my entire C: partition with it without any success of recovery.
- I remember that. Win 8 was me reminding people as I refused to update. It seems that every other Windows release is any good. Maybe 12 will be.

Every time I hear about more modern versions of windows I'm more and more glad I switched to Linux

wow this is the best thing to happen to linux in awhile
- Maybe 2024 will finally be the year of Linux on the desktop.
  
  Every time someone writes these words on a forum the year of the Linux desktop is pushed back another month
  
  Gnome is so freaking good right now it's a legit contender.
  if Red Hat could just not shit the bed for like a minute that would be great.

"the highly anticipated Windows 12" riiiiight...

Sorry but that looks ugly- not a fan of the look
I didn't expect Windows 12 to be announced for another few years, didn't 11 only come out last year?
- If you go to the source this blog is based on, it is much clearer that the notion of a 2024 launch of Windows 12 is based on speculation. It also only goes as far to say that the floating taskbar is just a UX design they are considering.
- Wasn't there a huge deal when they skipped from Win8.1 to Win10 - and they pinky promised that Windows10 was the last version of Windows, and they'd simply release major updates every so often? Pepperidge farm remembers.
  I'm already tired of my buggy Windows10. I have no desire for Win11 or Win12. I'm installing dual boot with Linux Mint on a few different machines and never looking back haha

My curiosity towards Windows totally vanished with 8, and everything since looks like hasted damage control to me.
Now I find it interesting that the vision and ambition of Microsoft for what used to be its most strategic and successful product goes as low as a new skin (more than "inspired by" KDE IMHO), more of cloud-clippy in places we'll hate it a lot, and more adds and telemetry because retail/OEM tax was not enough real money you spent for your OS.

I probably don't need to ask, at this point, but will there be an agenda flyout back again?

OMG it can never work on my pc but i already do similar set-up like floating task bar or whatever with linux I3 wm and tweaks and stuffs.

181 comments