3w ago

In wake of Windows 10 retirement, over 780,000 Windows users skip Win 11 for Linux, says Zorin OS developers — distro hits unprecedented 1 million downloads in five weeks

www.tomshardware.com In wake of Windows 10 retirement, over 780,000 Windows users skip Win 11 for Linux, says Zorin OS developers — distro hits unprecedented 1 million downloads in five weeks

Windows-like Linux distribution claims over a million downloads in the past month for its latest build.

In wake of Windows 10 retirement, over 780,000 Windows users skip Win 11 for Linux, says Zorin OS developers — distro hits unprecedented 1 million downloads in five weeks

341 comments

That "780,000 Windows users" number is just made up for the title as clickbait.
That number is never mentioned in the original blog post.
All they said is they have a million downloads and "over 78% of these downloads came from Windows". At no fucking point did they imply that means 780k unique users. There's no reason to assume that everyone who downloaded the ISO actually went on to install it.
They also want $48 for their Pro version which comes with a "professional-grade creative suite" consisting of... GIMP, Blender, Inkscape, Kdenlive, and... Audacity (?), going off the screenshots they show:

They're shamelessly reselling free software as some sort of comprehensive package, and it's not even their own distro. They're just piggybacking on Ubuntu.
And their premium support only covers... installation?

But hey, they support this edition with updates until 2029!

Of course, pay no attention to the coincidence that the Ubuntu LTS version it's based on also hits end-of-life around then:

So I'm not really sure what you're actually getting out of this purchase besides some extra themes and some really formulaic desktop wallpapers, and a couple proprietary apps. They say they "contribute to upstream Open Source projects" but offer zero evidence; their site doesn't even have any Github/Gitlab links.
- Its rare to see someone with brain in here
- Zorin pro was the main reason I never stuck with Zorin OS however while they heavily advertise that the price is for the software. I think the real cost comes with “installation support”.
  For many first time users, having support help with an install is a necessity and they will pay for it. See Geek Squad as an excellent example.
  Plus having a preconfigured Linux experience is good for these users.
  
  Nice perspective. I had a wtf moment reading they charge for Gimp etc, but I imagine some casual PC users installing linux would rather pays for the convenience than troubleshoots.
- If I had a nickel for every time TomsHardware spreads misinformation, makes stuff up or did 0 research on the topic #Ryzen9700X3D I would be millionaire pretty soon.
  Can we maybe ban them as a source from here?
- While most users don't even know their Windows is paid by them - as an OEM pre-install - I can see business persons being oblivious to a concept their workhorse can be just free and good. Zorin is probably targeting that market. Top managers don't take personal responsibility to integrate some hippy socialist bullshit, they switch from one respectable enterprise solution to the other and can show checks. We can try and take a glance at this from a perspective of a complete corporate buffoon, and it starts to make sense.
- I am conflicted about Zorin, they are selling something using free software… but somehow, maybe marketing i am not sure… they are able to get people on Linux that never did before. So you know, seeing people ditching Windows for Linux might be the first step… maybe someone start with Zorin, get comfortable and jump to something else.
  
  You're forgetting what "regular" people are like. /S
  
  Are they getting people onto Linux, or are they absorbing people that would be switching anyway and taking advantage of those users by charging them for something they may not need? Hard to say which it is
- Thanks for clearing up the misinfo
- I guarantee there are PLENTY of people jumping the commercial ship to try Linux of many flavors
  
  I'm not saying there's no people trying it, or that the actual number is negligible. I'm just saying I highly fucking doubt that 780,000 people have actually installed Zorin OS in the last month.
  
  Love how you just completely skipped over the entire thrust of the comment and then churned out some blithe remark.

I know some who went to Linux and a few who moved to Mac. But no one is seeing Win11 and saying "oh man, I gotta get in on that".
- I jumped in to the Win11 beta and really liked it, they finally got most of the control panel into the new settings architecture and I never once had to dig deep into things to adjust something small, a lot of stuff that took finagling just worked.
  And now I fucking hate it. The release version is jammed so full of bullshit features and useless AI junk that it is an active hindrance to whatever I'm trying to do. And more and more stupid fucking bugs bubble up in to the desktop and never get addressed, all while I get pop up after pop up urging me to try some bullshit new feature.
  I already had one foot into Linux with my desktop but kept this because it was a Surface and nice at some point, but my next buy has to be a Linux 2-in-1, I can't deal with Microsoft's horseshit any longer.
  I do want to emphasize that for the moments that it was unadulterated by rent-seeking, the new Win11 actually was kinda great.
  
  In case you weren't aware there's an ongoing project adding Surface hardware support to Linux kernel. It's in a pretty mature state, with most of the features already implemented and working (here is a full breakdown per device). I've been using it on my SP6 for a few years with zero issues.
  It might be worth a look until you get to buying new hardware.
  
  I finally committed to the switch last weekend. My desktop PC was the last holdout still on Windows in my fleet, because of Adobe Lightroom. I decided to just force myself to learn Darktable, and nuked the Win 11 install and replaced it with Fedora 43.
  Fun side note, some of my games run way better than they did on Windows, despite not having native Linux builds. lol.
  
  I left Windows for Linux in the early 2010s. Windows was shit then, but this is a new level of shit. I don't know how anyone does it. After discovering the freedom Linux can provide I could never go back to Microsoft.
  
  did you try the ltsc version? i heard it comes without all these unnecessary "features" and feature updates.
- I know some people who shoot and hunt their own venison. Some people moved over to butcher shops. But no one is finding roadkill and saying "oh man, I gotta get in on that"
  
  I can think of one…
  
  When I was a kid I visited my cousin in backwoods Missouri, and we heard on the radio that there was an uptick in leprosy because of people eating roadkill armadillo. It was a real wtf moment in my life
  
  But no one is finding roadkill and saying “oh man, I gotta get in on that”
  Fun fact, there was enough public outcry in '16 for the state of Washington to amend it's laws and make it legal to harvest roadkill for food.
  
  It's actually not terribly uncommon for people to take roadkill if it's fresh and in decent shape.
  In my state (PA) you're supposed to report it to the game commission within 24 hours, and you're supposed to surrender the hide and antlers to them unless you pay for a separate permit.
  
  Gotta make fresh roadkill, then it's edible sure.
- I have two win 11 licensed for older Dell computers. I shudder at the thought of ever needing them.

Even if most of those trying it out eventually go back to Windows, this is still great for Linux!
- I was þinking þe same. Even if many switch to Mac, or even back to Windows, now þey have exposure. Even if it's not perfect, or even if þey don't like it, þey've been þere, and I believe it increases þe chances þey'll try it again when wiþout 11, þey may never have.
  
  I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that a freshly cut rose is your favorite flower, and that you’ve got several potted cacti about your home.
  
  I was binking be same. Even if many switch to Mac, or even back to Windows, now bey have exposure. Even if it's not perfect, or even if bey don't like it, bey've been bere, and I believe it increases be chances bey'll try it again when wibout 11, bey may never have.

Bruh ain't no way people are choosing Zorin OS over all the available options.
If this is a result of people searching "best windows like distro", they're profiting off of a windows theme for GNOME, not even a full DE.
You can achieve the same thing with zero effort on any distro because DEs and themes aren't tied to a distro.
- You can achieve the same thing with zero effort on any distro because DEs and themes aren't tied to a distro
  No, YOU can. But for the average Windows user this is far from "zero effort". Just the fact that Zorin OS will automatically run Windows executables through wine without the user having to set it up is a huge deal for people coming from Windows who want their PC to "just work" without fiddling around
  
  Bringo. I started trying to learn how computers compute in my 40's, after using them essentially since childhood. Still a dumbfuck. There is a huge class of users who are genuinely interested in... Having a computer - they are neat. The percentage of those people who also want to not be product-fucked on the regular by unimaginably powerful companies is pretty substantial.
  It's odd to look at Linux and open source communities that shame others, and diminish the possible entry point of a user hoping to escape the purgatory of Microsoft's/apple etc. whims. What's the goal? Many people are stupid; I'm pretty stupid. Help us more smarter.
  What are some experiments I can do to learn grep a little? How do I internalize the file system in this OS better? How do I know I fucked something up, rather than found a loose nut in the software?
  Rtfm. Hahah cheers
  
  Yeah except I have never seen anyone actually suggest Zorin OS for this purpose due to its controversial pro edition.
  There are other distros that achieve the same thing. My point is that Zorin is making money off of something I could do with zero effort, which implies its not even worth making a pay to use distro when one of the inherent benefits of linux is that its free.
  I could understand if Zorin provided some groundbreaking software like Crossover, which for a long time had some serious advantages over wine and proton (yes I know irony that all are based on wine). But as other people have pointed out, most of this OS is just a reskin + preinstalled app combo. Might as well just use Nobara, which GE made in his spare time with some lazy scripts for Fedora.
- I think you vastly overestimate the amount of effort most people are willing to expend for things like this.
- marketing is important. more important than a good product even.
- Zorin uses gnome? I would not have guessed that based on the couple of screenshots I saw.
  
  Contrary to what many people thing, Gnome is extremely modular and customisable. It's just not really exposed in the base Desktop Environment itself.
  You can do literally anything with the extension system. It's very powerful.
  That does however mean that you can easily break things, which is why by default Gnome marks extensions as unsupported when a new Gnome versions come out, until the maintainer adds a text string inside the extension that flags their extension as being validated for the new version.
  You can disable the version checks, of course, and just risk it. But usually I find you don't need to. By the time a new release comes out, the Gnome beta has been available for over a month, and the extensions have already been updated in advance.
- Zorin is the best distro when you come from Windows. It works almost similarly so it's easy to grasp for those who don't want to tinker / learn a new DE.

My machine was once VERY capable. It's not a top of the line gaming box but it's still capable and shows no signs of crapping out yet. Can't run windows 11 but it's not worth throwing away my computer over.
- Same boat, my computer is basically the computer my wife built probably about 12 years ago before we got together, it was pretty beefy for its time. I basically stuck her old components in a new box (and also stuck a newer graphics card in it because I got a really good deal on a used 2060)
  Still manages to run most games out there on acceptable (to me) settings.
  Made the switch to Linux about a week ago, no major issues, some things are arguably running better now. It's not without its hiccups but so far things have gone pretty smoothly.
  EDIT: went with Mint over Zorin though.
- I've got an Intel 6900K 8-core X99 system. Also not compatible with W11, but serving me well.
  The issue is even if I wanted to upgrade, that market segment is effectively dead; X299 and X399 (AMD) were the last real HEDT platforms. The only thing now is workstation tier boards, which are about $1K and processors to match
- My desktop (that runs guix) is from 2009. At the time I built it for gaming. In the last couple years I upgraded the ram to 16 gig and replaced the graphics card (old one died), no other mods made. Now I use it for much more mundane stuff and it's still completely usable.
- I've been using a PC with C2D till it died. And I'm still having thoughts of checking whether it's solvable with a bit of soldering, perhaps replacing power.
  It's enough for music, text editing, a little bit of web browsing and old games. Old games here includes a lot of goodness, but even World of Tanks worked under Wine on it back when I used it. Slow, but playable (when you have friends and it's a social event, alone kinda sad).

I'm far more bothered by them making Brave the built-in default browser, than I am by them charging for themes & tech support.
- Charging for themes and tech support seems fine to me. As long as it's possible to do it yourself.
  They need to make money, to continue the development and that seems a good compromise
  
  The themes and tech support are totally fine to charge for (as long as they're original themes that the zorinOS developers made or contracted someone to make).
  Brave browser as default is borderline as bad as just sticking to windows if the point of you getting away from windows is to dodge the shady stuff Microsoft has started doing.

Can't wait for the "FOSS enables the bad guys to download 2 marijuanas" headlines from MSM.
- My cousin downloaded Linux and died from injecting 3 Marijuana's at once.
  It was Arch btw.

Just installed CachyOS. It just works.
Never going back
- Use Cachy for a while. Not a single issue so far. Very good distro for people who want the OS out of the way. The perfect compatibility with Nvidia is a plus!
  
  Yeah I waited till I had a new gpu, got amd.
  But yeah, reinstalled all the arr* stuff I had on windows and other services as podman services, got steam, played a few games. Some Linux native. Some Proton.
  Transfered all my stuff then formatted my ntfs disks did btrfs
  Never felt like anything pushed back on what I wanted. Was silky smooth.
  Never once had to even think about if I had drivers for my things, logitech lightning mouse, wireless headset etc

I just installed Linux Mint on my dad's old laptop. He asked me to do it!
I checked and it could run Windows 11 with a RAM upgrade. But he wasn't interested in that.
He was surprised at all of the software installed by default. And mostly just uses the browser to read his Outlook mail....
- Same dude!
  I got games to run too, using Lutris. I can give you a few tips if you want. I put it on a thinkpad T470p.
  I can probably run pretty much anything using Lutris. It can read any iso file and presumably even .exe files though I haven't tried it with exe's.
  Still, most of what we need is available just in a browser or from open source, like Libreoffice.
  
  Thanks for the offer! But I've been running Linux only since 2002 or so, currently with Arch on my laptop, because I'm not yet brave enough to try Nyx. 😄

Penguin sounds intensify

More!! More! Everybody get others into Linux Mint and Pop OS Cosmic as well!! I am doing my part if we want better we must grow the community
- I tried Mint and it's just too buggy to use.
  
  What video card do you have? Do you plan to use the machine for gaming?
- Mint and Pop OS really aren't usable for cutting edge GPU's tho.
  Edit: I'm probably wrong about Pop OS.
  
  That's simply not true for PopOS

Zorin would t be my first choice. But happy to see those numbers.
- I'm happy to see people enter as a gateway. Ubuntu has, and still does, serve that purpose as well.
- I would use it if Samba sharing actually worked.
- Any other recommendations for non tech savvy people coming from windows?
  
  Linux Mint it's the mvp now. ElementaryOS is also nice, but more like macOS.
  
  I install Linux Mint on friends' a family's.
  
  When i switched from windows i used mint im currently on fedora and manjaro i had no real trouble with either one of those. But im mostly using my browser and some applications i need for coding. I dont know what your use cases are but you can make a bootable usb with any one of those distros and test it out befor you actually install it anywhere. If you have an old laptop ore something like this i would strongly reccomend testing on that and see what you like. Also save all the data you need/want to keep before you mess with anything

I am a macOS user for work and had windows mostly for games on my personal computer, when I got a new laptop last year it came with win 11… it was so annoying to need to skip literally ads for Microsoft services… that even being my “leisure” computer… I spent the time getting Linux Mint, deal with Nvidia drivers on Linux just to have steam there
The games I am playing recently are working great on Linux and my computer feels faster now.
This particular laptop had a problem with WiFi drivers and Nvidia drivers, but getting past this first setup, I must say Linux Destop is easier and fast to use.
- I keep hearing about ads on computers, smart tvs, fridges and shit, is that solely an american thing? I'm in Europe and never get any of that shit. Sure, Microsoft will tell me at installation that they'd like to "personalize" some adds for me, but I have never actually had a single one. Did the EU block them or something?
  
  It might be the version of Windows 11 you have installed, too. Enterprise has no ads (or can be configured not to have ads, at least). Same for Professional, I think?
  You can also use a post-install "Playbook" to rip all the adware and spyware out of Windows. I used ReviOS in my Windows 11 VM and it works well for me, but I'm guessing that's not what you've done since you'd know about it, lol.
  I'm super happy with my switch to CachyOS. Canadian laws roughly mirror US laws, so it's a breath of fresh air to not need to deal with Microsoft's bullshit (well, outside of the VM I need for work, anyway.)
  
  You definitely get more in the US, but Europe isn't free from ads.
  Windows still shoves OneDrive, office, and other things in your face in Europe. They still have featured news stories and the like. They still have recommendations in the start menu and such.
  These are all ads, though we've been conditioned into thinking MS plastering OneDrive and OneDrive recommendations all over their OS isn't advertising. It very much is.
  If you have an Android TV in Europe, 1/3 of the home screen by default is an ad banner, just like in the US. Etc.
  We are not free from ads. We just have it slightly better than the US.
- I would bet money the fanspeed also got much quieter.
  
  Yes, and comparing resources it issues much less CPU while “idle”
- I just bought a machine with an NVIDIA card which I am going to install Mint on. Do you have any advice?
  (I had planned to get an AMD GPU, but was unable to for various reasons.)
  
  Send it! I've heard it has gotten better for nvidia users. The nice thing about a live USB is that you can just remove it and reboot if you don't like it.
  
  Mint worked the best for me out of the other distros. 3060ti
  Multiple monitor setup. One a 4k tv via HDMI others display port.
  Had a helluva time getting it to not fuck the displays when one went on/off with anything other than mint.
  YRMV
  
  Pop!_OS has a dedicated .iso just for Nvidia hardware.
  
  Do all updates first, save a snapshot of the system, than install the latest Nvidia driver.
  For me, installing Nvidia drivers before the system update was the issue
- Everytime people say there is a problem with nvidia driver, what kind of problem do people have? I am running nvidia drivers on two different machines on arch linux. It was just pacman -Syu nvidia and thing just work
  
  On my laptop, I was using the tool available on Mint to find ans install drivers and after I reboot I was losing the WiFi drivers
  This laptop did not have an Ethernet port, so I needed to re-install the OS and try again

I’m gonna make it 780,001 today.
- How many computers do you have ?!
  
  Well, a grand total of one.

I downloaded Mint last week and started the installation but got cold feet when it came to drive formatting. I still want to keep my win10 operational in case I won't be able to run something on Linux.
I never actually used Linux before... I installed it 3 times before and always quickly went back to windows due to some compatibility or driver issues, but...
<Rant mode="venting">
I am NOT switching to win11... It's enough that I am forced to use it at work. That system is so fuckin stupid... They took a lot of minor elements and just made each of them worse... I get that the sales department told you to shove OneDrive and Copilot everywhere, it's stupid and annoying but I get it, it's just plain old greed, but why can't the Calendar show the whole month and don't work on the second monitor?!? (Are you planning to add it as a paid subscription later?!?)
</Rant>

Thank you for your attention to this matter.
- You can get a cheap ssd and install linux on it. Before installing disconect existing windows drive. After install reconnect windows drive and make sure that windows boots. Then boot to bios and choose linux as default drive and after booting to mint desktop update grub to include windows. On each boot you will be able to choose which OS you want.
- Just add a new partition and dual boot, it is pretty easy.
  Also I do not recommend Mint for Windows users, because the officially supported UX layers are more apple-esque. Use a distro that has KDE support baked in. Adding KDE to Mint is easy but may not be for people switching.
  For that reason, I recommend going with distros with KDE Plasma by default. Kubuntu or KDE neon.
  Why KDE? It feels like where Windows should have gone. It's like the glory days of Windows (windows 2000, etc) in the modern age. It is a drastic upgrade from Windows with more freedom than you ever had.
  
  Mint has the Cinnamon desktop environment which isn't that different from Windows/KDE. You're probably thinking of Gnome?
  
  I do not recommend Mint for Windows users, because the officially supported UX layers are more apple-esque
  you can't have a more classic desktop look and feel than using MATE, and it's from the same people that maintains Mint
- lol I forgot about the calendar issue
  a perfect example of them making it worse for literally no reason at all
- One can resize the Windows partition from Windows itself, then install Linux alongside it. But have backups and be careful.
- Bruh, they moved rename file. That shit has been in the same place since 3.1. Fucking why.
- I used disk2vhd to virtualize my laptop windows disk and put it on a USB stick and then got it running on Linux with VirtualBox. I'm gonna need it once a year for taxes.
  I did run into some trouble getting secureboot working in virtualbox, but solved it after I figured out the kernel drivers were compressed.
- One pretty safe way is if you get a separate drive for Linux and completely swap out the Windows one. It's not dual booting but at least you can switch back if it doesn't work out for you.
  Just make sure you have whatever you need to get the Windows drive working again if it's encrypted.
- You can just test Mint without installing it... run it off of USB.
  It'll be slower, but you can see if it fits your needs.
- If you have issues with mint, try something based on Debian or Fedora rather than Ubuntu like Mint is.
  For Fedora I recommend Bazzite if you do gaming and nothing too technical. Flatpaks make it easy to find and install software without messing things up. Otherwise Fedora Kiinoite.
  For Debian I recommend Debian itself really. Also runs very well on much older machinery.
  
  The Mint team also puts out a very stable version called LMDE which is based on Deb rather than Ubuntu.
  
  If you didn't know, Ubuntu is based on Debian.

Someday Microsoft might realize that Windows should be rolling‑based, like CachyOS. By that time, it will be too late for them to catch up and bring everyone back to Windows.
- That's literally what Windows 10 was supposed to be. "The last version of windows". Does no one remember that?
  
  I by no means want to defend Microsoft. But I'm pretty sure that was said by an overzealous marketing person who didn't understand correctly, and this was corrected by Microsoft soon after.
  
  I remember. I also remember Windows 8 which was supposed to make everything metro stylish and convenient, with tiling, ARM version, claims of being optimized and good for updating even on oldish boxes.
  Same times as Nokia Lumia.

Fuh door uh!
Fuh door uh!
Fuh door uh!
- Deb-Ian, Deb-Ian!
  
  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaa
  
  I think they broke up.
  
  Beeee Esss Dee!

I really hope these people don't accept that it's normal to charge for different desktop environments.
- They’re not doing anything that’s violating licenses. I’m happy there’s different options. Having paid support is pretty cool if you’re a school or never ran Linux before. Other users will choose other distros. We should be happy, not tear into each other.
  
  My concern is more oriented toward how capitalization of consumer-facing Linux will look if it proves to be a profitable site of expansion with Windows' decline in popularity. I don't care about licenses or the utility of the feature, though I do question its value when there are free options. The support is the more valuable thing, but again I worry about this success given that other distros have communities that serve the same purpose for free with only a little more labour from the user. It's a good thing this is happening at all, but we should be critical of how it happens.
- They are just different layouts for Gnome, but it's annoying that they call what is essentially a donation to them a Pro edition. A donate button would likely make more as it feels philanphropic.
  
  You do realize that includes support, right? Last time I checked, that is very much not a donation.
  
  I think it is very purposeful that Zorin has expansive marketing and frames features in terms of price value.

also because w11 is filled with glitches and bugs to the brim.

Decade of the Linux Desktop. It’s here guys!

Swapped over to Mint a couple days ago, it plays ATOM RPG so I am contented with my slave jank.

How popular is it against other distros? First I've heard of it (admittedly doesn't say much since I'm used to the older ones), which makes me wonder how close to a million people did. Did influencers spread the word or something?
- I've noticed Zorin does a lot of marketing and it comes in waves, you won't hear anything for months then it'll be everywhere for a few days.

Pretty sure 80% of them are just people distro hopping, we know the Linux community 😂
- It's because you can in Linux.
  
  Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
- Maybe, but those 780k users have plenty of good reasons to choose Linux over Windows 11. It's all about personal preference and what works best for them.
  
  Wasn’t criticizing the switch. I’m all on Linux as well, it’s just that’s it’s probably a misleading number

Glad to be a statistic
- Don’t be so gloomy! You’re an individual number too! 😜
  
  True that. There are many Toms, but only one newLinuxUserWindows11Vagabond_578428
- Same.

So... a few months before this, Linux had been noted to have just tipped 5% desktop market share...
What's it going to be like now? 6%? 10%!?
- 1.5 billion windows users, another million transfers to 1.499 billion windows and +0.001 billion Linux. The windows number was purely from Google, no validation has been done.
  
  Mhmm. Though Zorin's only one distro. And not a really well known one. Fun to speculate around all the unknown variables.

I switched from Windows 10 to Mint. While there is a steep learning curve with basic things like adding an icons to the menu, I'm wishing I made the move earlier. There is a noticeable performance improvement with Stable Diffusion.

I'm just waiting till I can install SteamOS honestly. Love my steam deck, and wanted to turn my old win 10 PC into a Linux machine but has issues getting any distro loaded because I'm dumb and it's old. Hoping that when they release SteamOS for the chumps I'll be able to work it though probably will just be left holding an old win 10 pc lol.
- Bazzite is basically that, with a foundation of Fedora Atomic instead of Arch, but otherwise it's extremely similar, designed to be super easy. Even as a Linux nerd it was a breath of fresh air compared even to the simplicity of some other distros.
  
  Garuda is Arch, and is also focused on being super easy, gaming focused, and performance tuned. It's not immutable though.
- You are the type thats bringing the Linux gaming forward. Support Steam because they are the pioneers, that other game developers are watching. I still am not a fan of steam heavy DRM dependency but that a me personal thing!
- Haha same here! I'm holding off on upgrading too until SteamOS officially drops. My old PC has been a bit of a challenge though, hopefully it'll be worth the wait!
  
  Honestly, I wouldn't wait for valve, they do things on their own time.
  Bazzite is basically the exact same thing. There's a few technical differences but they don't really matter for a normal user

Serious question, I'm a basic linux user (commandline and shell scripting, crontab, python...) what would I see/feel as different if I switched to Zorin OS?
Edit from mint
- Imo, the fact you know what crontab is indicates your a bit more than a 'basic' user. You can give yourself more credit than that ;).
  Anyway, like the other commenter said, depends where your switching from but Zorin is pretty much making Linux as easy to use as possible. They even have a wrapper for bottles that makes installing windows apps with wine easier. I quite like it and would be what I'd suggest to someone who wants a general purpose computer. It's not great for gaming though as they don't use super up-to-date packages so performance is lacking. That being said, it looks great and makes things as easy as possible for noobies
- theyre fairly similar as far as i can tell. they both use gnome-terminal so you wouldnt notice any difference there.
  mint seems more like a windows 7 style desktop, as in its more compact and meant to be used with a keyboard and mouse. zorin is more like windows 11 where there is more space around everything, which is ideal if you are also using a touchscreen some of the time
  im definitely more of a zorin fan anyway. i have it installed on 2 computers, and i have mint on an old computer that i never use, just cos
  
  Thanks!
  As an old XP-liker I'll probably stay on Mint then 😁
- From what OS, and for which activities?
  Generally, I would advise vibe checking with a Ventoy USB and a live .iso. See if you find your marks, and can do basic stuff. Ventoy will allow you to try different distros in relatively quick succession
  
  I'm an idiot, from Mint.
- If you feel comfortable in Mint, there's not a lot of reason to switch to Zorin. Under the hood they are quite similar. Similar tools, both based on Ubuntu, all quite similar.
  The main benefit of Zorin is that it looks and feels a lot like Windows, so it's easier for someone switching from Windows. If you aren't switching from Windows, no need to use Zorin.
  
  Funny when I was a noob, I DEF stayed away from Distro's that were like Window. I left MS for a reason & one of them was a ridged thene design. The Linux "noob" distros, are a FAD & are setting people up for failure. It's not Windows and that's the beauty of it. It's something we deserve as a highly evolved technologically advanced society. Anything else is stagnant and holding us back as a species.
- Edit from mint
  Not much,

Eli5 zorin...
- Zorin OS is a Linux distro. Linux distros are different Linux-based operating systems. Kinda comparable to how Samsung-Android looks and feels different than Pixel-Android or Amazon-Android (aka FireOS). All of these are distributions of the same operating system.
  The same exists with Desktop Linux, but the distros differ more than the Android distros differ.
  With that out of the way: Zorin OS is a Linux Distro that is focussed on people migrating from Windows. The user interface looks a lot like Windows, it's setup with Wine (a tool that lets you run most Windows programs on Linux) out-of-the-box.
  It's a quite decent starting point for someone migrating from Windows to Linux and it's a commonly recommended "beginners' distro".
  
  I've never had much luck with Wine running Windows programs, unless the programs were ancient. Maybe I'm just unlucky?

There are two things that are keeping me attached to Windows - my PC not supporting Win11, and Photoshop. My god, if anyone can get a copy of Photoshop to work with Linux, I will say goodbye to Microsoft immediately.
(Yes, I've tried GIMP, Krita, et al. They didn't click for me. This is what 24 years of working with Photoshop does to a mf)
- There is literally a "photoshop UI" plugin for GIMP, did you try it?
  (Also, virtual machines/wimboat exist).
  
  I was not aware. I'll give that a try, thanks
  
  Winboat is not even close to being stable enough to recommend.
  
  Didn't GIMP release an entire UI overhaul earlier this year?
- For work or personal use?
  If its for work then consider having two machines, using windows for the work machine and Linux for the personal one.
- I have a windows VM for Adobe products, etc. Works fine for my usecase. If you need full GPU Acceleration (e.g. for Premiere), it gets a bit more complicated, but is doable still, as long as you have an iGPU or second GPU.
- This may not suit you, but for me and my skills, it's a perfect Photoshop clone. All in the browser! Blows the doors off Gimp anyway.
  https://www.photopea.com/
- I think the affinity suite can run via wine, but that's the closest you're going to get you Photoshop on Linux.
  
  There’s still some retraining needed to go from CS to Affinity Suite, but I did it around 5 years ago after 25 years on Adobe and would never go back. And now Affinity 3 is effectively free for basic use. Of course, this is probably the beginning of the end for it as Canva attempts not-a-subscription services on the Affinity platform (making it freemium), but I expect my Affinity 2 suite will still work for years to come.
- My legitimate copy of Photoshop CS6 works flawlessly with wine. But if you run the latest version it's a different story

I mean I downloaded 4 to try out.

Is that 780k only to Zorin, or to all of Linux?
- Only to Zorin
  
  This can only be good for Zorin OS.
- 780k should be enough for everyone.
  
  Correcting the myth: Zorin never actually said that

I am ashamed to say that I did use windows 11 for longer than I should have.

At least Bill Gates won't be able to afford the third home for a distant cousin he's never met. /s
- I think he could afford homes for any distant cousins, probably to the 15th degree

Can't blame them. The sloth has done so much to alienate their user base that should just kill the division

Good, keep going, people have become way too complacent about how much control their OS has over their lives, with a little bit of patience anyone can get on the Linux train these days.

More Windows refugees should flee to the Kingdom of Torvalds.

Says some distro nobody’s ever heard of
- They actually come up relatively often in the true newby conversations. They put a big emphasis on making the OS feel like Windows by default to make people more comfortable as they look at switching.
  
  I wonder why I've never heard of them, since I'd put myself in that category.
  I've heard Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Bazzite, and CachyOS. Just from interest in what would be a good distro for moving from Windows to Linux full time for gaming.
  But, never heard Zorin. What are the places people are seeking out that has Zorin being recommend?
  
  And they did this by theming and extending Gnome, so Gnome must break it on their behalf bi-weekly.
- Speak for yourself bro
- cause its one of the very few distros that are not made for the terminal lover trans animeweeb crowd, but the everyday user. with a ui that doesnt force you to type all day. they were in the news on linux portals cause they do offer a premium pay2use version, and they are on mainstream tech site recommendations cause they do the dirty work and send out emails instead of ricing the shit out of a window panel and an inaccurate weather widget.
  
  Most modern distros have the same level of convenience as Zorin. I don't know where you got this idea that Zorin is somehow special.
  
  the terminal lover trans animeweeb crowd
  So? Lemmy?

while more users for linux systems is really good, i hope it wont get too big of a market share. I'd rather have malware makers focus on other operating systems. It would be so nice to have good support for everything while simultaneously not having to worry about malware that much.
- I think most malware comes from installing cracked software from non-safe sources.
  Linux already has a huge market share in servers, so it's already a prime target for malware. More desktop users won't make it worse.
  
  Or installing software the Windows way: google "something doer" and click the second link, find the Download page and then click yes when it asks "Allow Sworn Enemies Of Democracy to make changes on this computer?"
  
  You're browsing habits, emails & P2P mostly, just as you said.
- That's narrow-minded. More users on Linux means greater compatibility. It also means less power for software giants like Microsoft, Apple, and Google. And it means more support for open source overall.
  
  How is it narrow minded to wish for balance that is good both ways?

I wonder if ZorinOS gathers runtime statistics and can tell if those new installees stick with Linux or switch to Windows or MacOS.
- ZorinOS, Microsoft, AND Apple can all go fuck themselves.
  Free, open-source will have a bigger market share after this dust settles
  
  THIS is the year of the Linux desktop!
  
  Zorin is FOSS.
  The fact that there's a pro version where you can pay for support does not break the GPL licence.
  FOSS does not mean everything must be free of charge. It just means the user can access the source code and modify/share it if they wish.

EnoughZorinSpam

Alternatively, just... keeps Windows 10.
Am I crazy? Like, I would legitimately reinstall Windows 95 were it relatively feasible.
Is it really that ill-advised to rely on outside providers for additional security features?
- Yes it is very ill advised as people often do important tasks on the PC including banking. In fact most people will delegate their most vulnerable tasks on the PC rather than the potentially more-secure mobile device.
  To put this in perspective. There were 1,360 Vulnerabilities reported in 2024 for Windows. Not a single one will be patched after end-of-life.
  There were unreported vulnerabilities that were waiting for end-of-life to be exploited.
  If I release my malware a month before EOL and it's caught then I have to start from scratch. If I do it after EOL then I can reap the benefits forever.
  https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2025/04/21/820580.htm

I use popOS and am really enjoying it.

Those are crazy numbers, really exciting.

A.S.T.E.R.

Is Zorin OS recommendable? I'm ready to at least dual boot if folks think thats cool

Can it play .exe without wine
- No
- Can windows play .DMG ?
- What a bizarre qualifier.
  You may as well complain about a kitchen by saying "but can it roast my turkey without using that oven?"
  Of course it needs some form of translation layer or emulator in order to run programs from other OSes.
- no
- Yes, with dosbox.

Zorin needs your email and payment
- No, it doesn't.
  
  https://help.zorin.com/docs/purchasing-zorin-os-pro/payment-methods/
  For extra apps and some layouts

Eh, that's fine but I'm good until 2032 with my Windows 10.
Also, we aren't for sure certain how many of those people are uniquely downloaded from Windows and specifically the purpose or reason.
Some could've downloaded Zorin for experimental purposes. Some could've downloaded it from a Windows VM. Some could've downloaded it from Windows when they're in a dual-boot system.
Hate to burst that bubble, but you need to consider these things before big numbers are boasted. There's a lot of variables involved.
- As long as it makes m$ shareholders pantshit, i'm all for it
- The article isn't making any baseless claims. That's you.
  The developers of the Linux-based Zorin OS say their latest release, Zorin OS 18, has already been downloaded more than one million times, and according to telemetry, over 78% of those downloads came from Windows systems. It's not a perfect proxy for real migrations, but it's a striking data point during a moment when Microsoft's user base is unusually restless
- they need some clickbait news, that's why.

That's a fucking low number

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