Over the past few weeks and nearing (the already past) death date of Windows 10, I have read several articles and watched several videos “appointing” ZorinOS as a suitable replacement for Windows 10.
Now I must say that I may have tried Zorin once several years ago. I have only vague memory of it and cannot recall even my impressions.
Just now I came across the following article pointing out an interesting fact:
It is sure rising on the click-list on DistroWatch:
What’s your experience of ZorinOS? Has anyone used it as daily driver recently?
Is it worth trying/using it as daily driver for a happy Arch/Debian user like myself?
Looking forward to your comments.
This is awesome. You have to pay a fee to fully enjoy it. I think it’s around 60 euros, or is it around 55 euros? I’ve had it in the VM once, it’s a matter of taste.
I’ve been using Fedora 42 for weeks and haven’t had a great experience. I’m now running Debian and EndeavourOS.
Honestly, Arch users, it would be too boring for you. Personally, if I wanted something, years and no major hassle like with Windows… I asked myself that question once. The answer came from others: Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora.
ZorinOS has only upgraded to a base of Ubuntu 24.04 with this latest release. It may suit the Debian user sitting comfortably within you, but is unlikely to satisfy the Arch user coursing through your veins and making your brain fizz
I generally try avoiding distros that are based on something that’s based on something, maybe Mint being exception to this rule (and EOS if it’s counted into those distros).
I don’t know why, somehow it just doesn’t suit to me.
The fee is only for the pro version, which comes with preinstalled software and support. But there is a core version free off charge. I run Zorin OS for 6 years now. It was my first Linux experience on a Macbook pro. And still use it on my Lenovo laptop. I am happy to pay the fee and supporting the Zorin team. When the upgrade version from 17.3 to 18 will be released I again happy to pay the small fee. It is hassle free. Soon I will move my wives PC from WIndows 10 to Zorin 18.
I also run EndeavourOS on a PC and like the experience solving issues
Zorin is okay, as mentioned it is based on Ubuntu 24.04 which will soon be 2 years old and their new LTS will be out April 2026. If you want the pro version it is pricey to me ($48 or about 40 euros I think). For experienced users Core, the free version is just fine. Any extra software that comes in the pro version can easily be installed and in effect you’d miss the theming. For an experienced user I cannot see them being completely satisfied with Zorin. EOS runs faster and has much newer software.
I have noticed Zorin community started early on pushing it as a drop in replacement for windows 10 defectors. We all know not everything windows can be set to run in wine or other tools. I figure there will be some buyers remorse for long standing windows users that move to Zorin.
I am amused at the common complaint “Linux is too hard to learn; it is so new to me” as they all forget that windows3.1, 95, 98, XP, 7, 8, 10 etc all were new at one point. I had to do lots of reading/learning but then again I was a programmer before retiring. My first non-windows was Free-BSD, then I tried Slackware, then Fedora Core (still had Core in the name then) and then Ubuntu. The best rule for me, is, if you cannot make it without a certain program(s) that only run on windows, just stay with windows if you cannot/won’t find an open source alternative
Lets get real here. Anything can replace Windows 10. It depends on what you the user wants. Any linux distro is a good choice. ZorinOS is a great alternative. EOS is the best choice. That’s why we are here. Right? Or move on to Windows 11. Sorry you have to buy new hardware!
The problems with Zorin are that, being based on Ubuntu 24.04, it’s quite out of date at release and as far as I can tell, it uses snaps. That may not bother you, but having your software come from only Canonical worries me, and having gone rolling, I could never go back to a static release except for on my server.
I’m using Zorin as my semi-daily now (university).
Haven’t run into issues yet, as I did on version 17. Distro runs relatively stable, even though huge amount of core packages is backported.
But is it the Windows 10 replacement? The fact is, everything can be a Windows 10 replacement, even Gentoo, if you look at it. But Zorin maintenance doesn’t depend on extensive terminal usage, the OS has a “shiny modern” look and the EXE support can be configured with a couple of mouse clicks.
Your average Joe won’t notice the outdated base, I wonder if they should even care about those “details”.
My little old ThinkCentre M90 with 4 GB ram is still humming along very well with EOS KDE and I can shut it down and leave it off a month or so then start it up update it and it does not miss win10 at all.
As has been mentioned above, anything could be a Windows 10 replacement.
Even Gentoo has been mantioned.
But the question is, for an average technically “unsavvy” computer user who has used Windows in different shape, color and naming, the whole life, which distros are most suitable to make the transition smoother and painless?
I would say that is certainly not Gentoo. Nor is it to my opinion any Arch-based including EOS despite its user-friendly installer and forum.
That’s why I understand why Zorin is making some noise now. It seems to be an install and forget distro with a quite nice graphical user interface, I daresay.
Though my personal recommendation would be Linux Mint with any of the three available DEs.
PS. I find the dark theme is rather handsome in Zorin.
As I look at it now, it seems what’s getting backported are just some of the apps, like GNOME and GIMP.
I reckon the amount of backported packages was bigger in Zorin 17.x series.
So, umm, yeah, the distro is “slightly” outdated. Does it matter, though, being based on LTS version on Ubuntu? The packages there seem to be outdated once the LTS version is released to the public…
I would assume that the answer would be Windows 11. Or 12. Whatever is the most current number.
Why do i say this? Well, switching from windows 10 to 11 would be so much easier for the user, instead of making a huge leap and switch to Linux, which will require a lot of learning.
Seems you have missed the whole point, which I admit, was implicitly supposed in the question:
Around 400 million Windows 10 computers globally are not eligible for the Windows 11 upgrade due to hardware incompatibility with Microsoft’s minimum system requirements.
There are practically hundreds of millions of people, many in low-income countries, I suppose, who simply cannot afford new hardware which meets Micro$oft’s hardware requirements.
There are those who are getting fed up by paying for their computers, the license for the operating system and now realizing that they don’t really own their machines. Micro$oft does.
There are many who are waking up to the harsh reality how every piece of information they put into their Windows PC are collected and monetized by Micro$oft.
These people are those who are now looking for alternatives.
The question is raised to address the need of these people to make their transition to another operating systems as smooth and as painless as possible.
So, your answer seems to be out of place. However since you were not aware of the “implicit supposition” in the question, that is understandable.
What Micro$oft is imposing on people cannot be qualified anything else but an abomination.
