Zorin, a Linux distro that positioned itself as a familiar and accessible entry point for users leaving Windows, continues to move with growing confidence toward reaching a broader user base. I say this because the most recently published information on the subject is impressive.
Following the release of Zorin OS 18 on October 14, the project recorded more than 100,000 downloads within the first 48 hours. In just one month, that figure climbed to 1 million. Now, Zorin OS has reached another milestone.
According to a post on the distribution’s official X account, Zorin OS 18 has reached 2 million downloads in less than 3 months since release, marking the fastest adoption in the project’s history. But what’s even more interesting is the fact that more than three-quarters of those downloads came from Windows users.
I have mixed feelings about Zorin.
They are doing a great job of promoting themselves and in attracting converts from Windows. It seems like a nice enough distro as well that users are likely to have a decent experience with.
On the other hand, they are charging money for a “pro” version that mostly just bundles software that users could get for free. My first reaction to this is that it is exploitive, both of uses and software devs.
But then I remember that they also offer support and I think that introducing people to software they did not know about is also a service.
And if they use the money to do all of the above, the Linux ecosystem benefits. So, perhaps they are not that bad.
Perhaps the best thing about them is they make it harder for truly scammy “windows” distros like Wububtu to take hold.
If they start to make “real” money, I do hope they share some of it back with the projects they leverage.
I think this is a good thing
Zorin sure has spent some money on press lately.
interesting I don’t see Zorin in the Steam Hardware Survey
The smallest distro in their list is Linux Mint 22.1 64 bit at 1.42%
(Linux Mint 22.2 64 bit is at 7.85%)
Might report as Ubuntu
Zorin is nothing but marketing bullshit, and ripping off OSS and branding it.
Marketing is everything. I bet if Fedora or Mint or shoot, even Arch spent even a sliver of what Zorin is on marketing, they’d get the downloads too.
My guess is a lot of people give Zorin a try, and find out it’s both Freemium and also kinda jank, and end up with somethign else later.
Most windows users aren’t distro hoppers, they just want an os to get their google search working. I would suspect that many EOL windows users might just stick with it, unless they are a gamer.
I thought Mint was the familiar and accessible entry point for users leaving Windows… guess I’m out of the loop these days
Zorin is solid and easy. Would def recommend to any new users from Mac/Windows.
All the negative comments here have nothing of substance to say. It’s like Baader-Meinhof for pessimistic pricks.
I’m interested in seeing some impressions that aren’t “I keep hearing about it so it’s bad”
How bad can it be? It’s just GNOME with a few extensions to make it look like windows.
They customized Gnome, apparently Gnome is very customizable on the back end that most people don’t get into.
GNOME’s always been customizable with gsettings and extensions, the problem is that the options aren’t exposed in the user settings and in the case of the extensions they are only available through third party software. The upside to this is that the desktop environment is leaner which allows faster development and generally less bugs.
My take: I heard about it about 2 years ago, either on here or reddit. A user recommended it, so I tried it out.
It’s good, has a clean aesthetic and a simple switcher to alter how GNOME actually looks. Perfect for a new User to tryout the Windows Menu look, or more of a GNOME dash, or whatever the other two options were.
Seemed solid and user friendly. Everything worked out of the box.
And they figured out funding: present a price, allow downloader to choose the price , or offer more, or type in 0.
Mainly I’m still waiting for their admin Grid product to manage multiple machines from a central location.
So are stockholders going to figure out Nadella is killing Microsoft? Or will this be another Elon situation where the company loses customers, but the stock price continues to rise?
Or will this be another Elon situation where the company loses customers, but the stock price continues to rise?
ABSOLUTELY NOT! You forgot the 18 gazillion dollar pay package for doing a bad job!
nah they no longer care about retail. the real mullah is made in corporate and B2B.
That’s the driver behind every enshittificatiom behavior.
