Didn't try yet but might be a good way for ppl changing from windows to Linux - what do you think about?
I don't like that the very first thing you see when you click on download is "purchase for $40" and then they list the benefits of doing so, which basically boil down to:
1- custom gnome themes
2- Professional-grade creative suite of apps
3- Advanced productivity software
Number 1 is a joke.
Number 2 & 3 I think are basically scams. What apps? They don't list them at all. If they are proprietary then how can you support these apps with this pricing model, if they are not, then are they just downloadable by anyone on almost any distro for free?
The entire thing smells bad. I vote to stay far away.
It is just preinstalling apps that you can get on your own.
They do provide installation technical support which is pretty unique and potentially a lot of work, given their target audience.
I thought it was okay but it is still using the older Ubuntu LTS 20.04 as it’s base.
I have no problem with anybody charging something, that has been one of the freedoms since the beginning.
I think it's OK for them to try and sell extras, but I do agree that it shouldn't be the first thing on the downloads page. At least put the paid and free options side by side, then have the lite version down below that.
I've used Zorin Core 16 quite a bit before and it's a really good OS. It does a lot right that other distros can learn from. There's a lot of great UX stuff like automatically explaining what Wine is when you open an exe file, and in some cases recommending alternatives to Windows apps. Pretty much all the defaults are sane and I never really had to change much about the system after installation.
By far the most user friendly Linux distro out there imo. Would recommend for Linux beginners.
Zorin is the best distro to learn linux when coming from Windows. I have used Zorin 15.3 and Zorin 16.
The UI is nice, simple and reminds a lot of Windows. It is easy to understand (easier than Ubuntu, Debian, Pop!_OS and Linux Mint).
It has wine preinstalled and runs smoothly.
I had issues when I tried Zorin. I still think Mint is probably the best for a new user.
I like it, it's an Ubuntu lts with a nice theme (I wish it had grey instead of just black and white though), wine integration to run compatible windows software and it's always just worked for me.
I don't like the fact that some things are locked out unless you pay for the pro version but I think that's just layouts and stuff.
I'd say it's good but like all of these Ubuntu derivatives you're almost always better off just using Ubuntu. Even people changing from windows to Linux, I'd still just tell them to use Ubuntu.
I hated Ubuntu compared to Zorin. Mostly the layout and the clutter. Zorin feels both smoother and faster.
What does it do differently to any other “easy” distro?
Isn't Debian an easy distro? I don't get it. Debian defaults to GNOME, setup is easier than Windows, includes a software store etc. what else do people need?
Debian is hard to master for someone coming from Windows ^^
Plus, it's pretty ugly without heavy customisation. Which ZorinOS (or Pop!_OS) ain't :)
Why do you say that? It defaults to GNOME, that essentially had everything out of the box that those ones you speak about have. GNOME's default theme is also finally something decent.
I think Debian is close to new user friendly IF they pick Gnome or KDE with all the default stuff there, and has getting closer with non-free firmware enabled by default now, but still isn't quite there as a plug and play new user friendly distro. Things like flatpak w/flathub or snap out of the box isn't there, and it'd be hard to get a full Debian setup without using the command line (especially for a non free software zelot who wants Spotify and discord out of the box)
Something like mint is just a tad easier, and that might be the different between an easy install and an unexpected set of hiccups that a new user might struggle with. The mint installer is also a lot more intuitive, at the cost of being less universally compatible (a big goal of Debian).
it's even more "easy" in it's presentation, the visuals are polished, it has a full windows like start menu, both on gnome and xfce, the theme config is clean and barebones, the choice of desktop configs with the bars and menu is reduced to like 6 choices, and little details like that to make it feel like a professionally made os, meaning it's only use is for people with no idea of what and os is, it's a little better at that than even mint, it does make it pretty shitty if you want to learn to use linux since many layers of simplicity are added on top of an otherwise full featured desktop
I wouldn't recommend zorin, I had lot's of issues with it. Linux Mint is way more begginer friendly
It's a very clean and simple to use out of the box experience but beyond that it has no real use, it's a good choice to give your mom or for refurbishin laptops but for personal use it has little to no point
That was my "entrypoint" distro to start fiddling with Linux. So I'd say, go for it until you are feeling confident enough to take the next step -- Linux Mint.
I don't like that the very first thing you see when you click on download is "purchase for $40" and then they list the benefits of doing so, which basically boil down to:
1- custom gnome themes 2- Professional-grade creative suite of apps 3- Advanced productivity software
Number 1 is a joke. Number 2 & 3 I think are basically scams. What apps? They don't list them at all. If they are proprietary then how can you support these apps with this pricing model, if they are not, then are they just downloadable by anyone on almost any distro for free?
The entire thing smells bad. I vote to stay far away.
It is just preinstalling apps that you can get on your own.
They do provide installation technical support which is pretty unique and potentially a lot of work, given their target audience.
I thought it was okay but it is still using the older Ubuntu LTS 20.04 as it’s base.
I have no problem with anybody charging something, that has been one of the freedoms since the beginning.
I think it's OK for them to try and sell extras, but I do agree that it shouldn't be the first thing on the downloads page. At least put the paid and free options side by side, then have the lite version down below that.
I've used Zorin Core 16 quite a bit before and it's a really good OS. It does a lot right that other distros can learn from. There's a lot of great UX stuff like automatically explaining what Wine is when you open an exe file, and in some cases recommending alternatives to Windows apps. Pretty much all the defaults are sane and I never really had to change much about the system after installation.
By far the most user friendly Linux distro out there imo. Would recommend for Linux beginners.
Zorin is the best distro to learn linux when coming from Windows. I have used Zorin 15.3 and Zorin 16.
The UI is nice, simple and reminds a lot of Windows. It is easy to understand (easier than Ubuntu, Debian, Pop!_OS and Linux Mint).
It has wine preinstalled and runs smoothly.
I had issues when I tried Zorin. I still think Mint is probably the best for a new user.
I like it, it's an Ubuntu lts with a nice theme (I wish it had grey instead of just black and white though), wine integration to run compatible windows software and it's always just worked for me.
I don't like the fact that some things are locked out unless you pay for the pro version but I think that's just layouts and stuff.
I'd say it's good but like all of these Ubuntu derivatives you're almost always better off just using Ubuntu. Even people changing from windows to Linux, I'd still just tell them to use Ubuntu.
I hated Ubuntu compared to Zorin. Mostly the layout and the clutter. Zorin feels both smoother and faster.
What does it do differently to any other “easy” distro?
Isn't Debian an easy distro? I don't get it. Debian defaults to GNOME, setup is easier than Windows, includes a software store etc. what else do people need?
Debian is hard to master for someone coming from Windows ^^
Plus, it's pretty ugly without heavy customisation. Which ZorinOS (or Pop!_OS) ain't :)
Why do you say that? It defaults to GNOME, that essentially had everything out of the box that those ones you speak about have. GNOME's default theme is also finally something decent.
I think Debian is close to new user friendly IF they pick Gnome or KDE with all the default stuff there, and has getting closer with non-free firmware enabled by default now, but still isn't quite there as a plug and play new user friendly distro. Things like flatpak w/flathub or snap out of the box isn't there, and it'd be hard to get a full Debian setup without using the command line (especially for a non free software zelot who wants Spotify and discord out of the box)
Something like mint is just a tad easier, and that might be the different between an easy install and an unexpected set of hiccups that a new user might struggle with. The mint installer is also a lot more intuitive, at the cost of being less universally compatible (a big goal of Debian).
it's even more "easy" in it's presentation, the visuals are polished, it has a full windows like start menu, both on gnome and xfce, the theme config is clean and barebones, the choice of desktop configs with the bars and menu is reduced to like 6 choices, and little details like that to make it feel like a professionally made os, meaning it's only use is for people with no idea of what and os is, it's a little better at that than even mint, it does make it pretty shitty if you want to learn to use linux since many layers of simplicity are added on top of an otherwise full featured desktop
I wouldn't recommend zorin, I had lot's of issues with it. Linux Mint is way more begginer friendly
It's a very clean and simple to use out of the box experience but beyond that it has no real use, it's a good choice to give your mom or for refurbishin laptops but for personal use it has little to no point
That was my "entrypoint" distro to start fiddling with Linux. So I'd say, go for it until you are feeling confident enough to take the next step -- Linux Mint.