Wait unti you have to upgrade Zorin to a new release. I still haven't gotten mine to work. Stick with Mint or Bazzite if you want a Windows alternate
this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2025
341 points (97.5% liked)
Linux
10246 readers
657 users here now
A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system (except the memes!)
Also, check out:
Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Wait unti you have to upgrade Zorin to a new release. I still haven’t gotten mine to work. Stick with Mint or Bazzite if you want a Windows alternate
I wouldn't exactly put up Mint as an example for a smooth upgrading experience...
Maybe I lack the technical understanding, but it's absolutely baffling to me, why one has to download mintupgrade. It's a reasonable setup wizard once it's running, but why on earth is that not part of the whole Update tool interface in the first place and gets downloaded automatically?
Amazing how lemmings will find a way to jump off of any cliff.
"Free OS that works great?"
NO! I WANT TO PAY.
Free as in Freedom and not free as in beer. I donate to a lot of open-source projects such as KDE.
I keep hearing about this "free as in beer." Where are you guys getting free beer? Can I have some?
I'm mostly amazed that they discovered it. When I think of a good transition distro this is not what comes to mind. Must have been some kind of targeted ad campaign. Also there's probably a ton of people that think no good software could possibly be free.
They've been astroturfing the fuck out of it for the last 6 weeks.
This was my guess. This shit doesn't come from nowhere. My bet is that some big wig or VC backed it and is trying to get ROI.
Nah, y'all just young. Zorin's designed to look extremely Windows-like, and they've always gotten a bump when Microsoft has a stroke. Last time they grew a lot was Windows 8.
If anything, this is just a sign of how badly Microsoft has fucked up with Windows 11.
These kind of distros always existed. I'm pretty sure I still have CDs around with Lindows from around the same Mandrake and Knoppix was the cool stuff.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Zorin? Its a great transition distro. Clean aesthetic, with back end gnome tweaks so you can have it look like KDE/windows. Software store made easy. Everything seems to work OOTB.
with back end gnome tweaks so you can have it look like KDE
you know what looks like KDE?
KDE.
But KDE isn't as integrated throughout the system like GNOME, on Zorin you have 4 desktops styles you can choose that range from GNOME like to KDE like without having to switch DEs.
I know KDE is highly customizable, but it doesn't have the smooth feel of GNOME, and for a distro where their whole vibe is a clean aesthetic GNOME makes more sense
load more comments
(2 replies)
To people who will pay whatever they think a thing is worth, a free OS is worthless
This is unironically a huge issue, and it's just fascinating how the psychology of pricing and valuation works.
Semi-large company needs something. They make a budget for €100k and start looking at different alternatives. They find alternatives a) €120k, b) €80k, c) €15k. I bet you they'll try to ask their superiors to expand their budget in order to buy the premium €120k solution, and they will not in any way consider the €15k one.
Come to think of it, it goes beyond software as well.
I mean, I don't mind monetization if it keeps the project alive and they're actually doing work. I do mind free stuff that comes at the price of your data, or free stuff that is eventually bought up, or free stuff that can't sustain itself and constantly splits off and churns through personal drama cycles.
load more comments
(3 replies)
If windows users want to pay for a superior OS even though they don't have to, let them.
load more comments
(3 replies)
I've had Zorin on an old laptop for a few years now, it's pretty good. I'd previously tried Mint and another distro I can't remember the name of, but I've stuck with Zorin. I'll probably go with it on my PC once I've done a backup.
How does Zorin compare to Mint?
More glitz and glam than many other distros I've tried. It was the first one I tried when trying to leave Windows. Eventually did Mint, Pop, Nobara, and Garuda. Chose Mint to stick with for now and haven't regretted it.
If one of my less savvy friends asked about switching to Linux, I would mention Zorin as a possible option simply because it goes out of its way to feel familiar.
Thanks! I got the feeling that it was trying to feel like windows to ease the pain of transition. I’ve just seen several hype posts for it recently and wondered what was up.
I don't really get this "it has to be similar to Windows" approach. It's gonna be different, the more you try to imitate windows, the more frustrating it will be when you get to things that HAVE to be different.
Prettier but has a track record of having more technical issues. Also the devs are a company with absolutely no transparency. At some point there was so few communication that I thought they closed shop.
If you want a similar UI, I would advise going for a vanilla Gnome and adding the desired "Zorin *" extensions. It's a bunch more work to setup but it feels more trustworthy to me.
load more comments
(3 replies)
view more: next ›