It wouldn’t be impossible that 12 is an improvement. 10 was an improvement on 8. I think, as always, it’ll never go back to a truely good OS, we will just get used to the crap bits.
I think windows is too entrenched in it’s own version history to make good again. You’d need to start from scratch which simply won’t happen within the windows brand.
You should check out the BBC guidelines for subtitling. They are really good and include preserving the intent of the program, avoiding ambiguity, and not spoiling jokes with bad timing.