You can't update to Windows 12 yet, but here's when you might be able to, and what features to expect. Windows 12 could be Microsoft's replacement for Windows 11... in 2024.  Yes, it's still very early to be giving this any serious thought, plus nothing is official yet. But Windows' long history has us wondering what's in the queue for the next big update. Some changes we think Windows 12 could bring include UI enhancements, better Android app support, and increased reliance on the Settings app. We should start by saying we can't verify yet that Windows 12 is even real. It's not that we think Microsoft will pull a Windows 9 move and skip over this version to land on W13—we just haven't heard anything official from the company. That said, we do think it's coming. It's just not clear when. There is one rumor we've seen that points to an upgraded OS. Tom's Hardware spotted a mention by the German website Deskmodder.de that Microsoft would begin working on Windows 12. Remarkably, that was in February 2022, less than six months after Windows 11 was first available to the public! We're not sure if that source is reliable, but whether this version is being actively developed or not, Windows 12 won't arrive for a while longer, considering how close we still are to the Windows 11 launch. Looking back at the last several major Windows versions, there isn't a consistent timeline we can use to gauge when Windows 12 will come. But, we can still guess.  Before its public release, Windows 12 will probably follow a similar release structure as other versions of Windows. For example, the first Windows 11 Insider Preview build was available a few days after Microsoft announced the OS and a few months before its public release. A similar timeline is expected for this version, so you should be able to access a pre-release build of Windows 12 through the Windows Insider Program whenever that time comes. There's a good chance Windows 12 will be offered as an optional, free update for Windows 11 users, and possibly Windows 10 users, who have a valid copy of Windows. If you need a new license, we think you'll be able to get the digital version from Microsoft's website, or through other retailers on a USB device. As with any big OS update, there will surely be countless minor updates and changes under the hood. This should translate to things like better overall performance, new icons and animations, and additional settings you can tweak. Nothing is confirmed, and won't be for a while, but here are some bigger ideas that could make their way into Windows 12: The 2022 Microsoft Ignite keynote might have given us a glimpse at the Windows 12 user interface. The taskbar is only a little different from the existing one we've grown familiar with over the years because it's just slightly hovering over the bottom of the screen. The search bar, however, has never existed at the top like that and is definitely not entirely detached from the taskbar. Windows Central claims that there are plans for other UI changes, too, like a new lock screen and notification center, all in an effort to create a consistent interface across Microsoft's product line that will work for both touch and keyboard users. And that's to be expected with any major release. Below is a neat look at what Windows 12 could look like from Concept Central. It shows a new Start menu, an idea for a built-in messaging client called Windows Messenger, a redesigned volume hub, and desktop widgets. We also like this W12 concept from designer Kevin Kall. Follow this thread and more on OUR FORUM.

Sometime soon, Twitter will crash badly. Here's why. Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, and it appears he's already failing on his promise not to turn Twitter into a 'free-for-all hellscape.' But, I'm not here to talk about his policy blunders. That's a story for another day. No, I'm here to predict that Twitter, the site, will soon crash. And, once it fails, it won't be coming up for a while. Why? Simple. You can't lay off half of the staff of a cloud-based social network and expect things to keep running smoothly for Twitter's 450 million monthly active users. Indeed, Twitter accounts are already failing in odd ways. For example, Benjamin Dreyer, author of "Dreyer's English" and copy chief of Random House, found that the vast majority of replies to one of his tweets were vanishing into the aether. He wasn't the only one. Even Musk appears to have realized that maybe firing every other person was a mistake. On Monday, November 7th, he tried to get workers, especially software engineers, to return. Good luck with that. According to my Twitter sources and tweets on the site, they're not coming back. As Gergely Orosz, editor and author of the popular software engineering and management blog, The Pragmatic Engineer, said, "Several people who were let go on Friday, then asked to come back were given less than an hour as a deadline. Software engineers who got this call ... all said 'no' and the only ones who could eventually say 'yes' are on visas." Managers, according to my sources and Orosz, are "getting desperate, trying to call back more people. People are saying 'no' + more sr engineers are quitting." Orosz added, "None of this is surprising. As a rule of thumb, you get an additional half attrition after you lay off X% of people. Lay off 10%: expect another 5% to quit. Lay off 50%... not unreasonable to expect another 25% to quit." And, you can't expect to replace social network and cloud experts with Tesla embedded system engineers and get anything done. I'm a good technology and business writer, but no one in their right mind would hire me to write opera arias. Let's look at Twitter's technology, shall we? Twitter runs on CentOS 7. This free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) clone comes to the end of its life at the end of June 2024. The leading choices for what to replace it with should be RHEL 9, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux. But instead of working on that transition, what few system administrators Twitter has left are both trying to get the platform ready for Musk's laundry list of new features and keeping it patched and up-to-date. That's a problem. You see, unlike RHEL, where a big part of the attraction is that you can depend on Red Hat for first-rate support, CentOS, Rocky, and AlmaLinux are all primarily meant for companies with in-house staff who already know Linux servers backward and forward. That's no longer the case at Twitter. For more visit OUR FORUM.