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A Windows 10 Alternative: Ubuntu-Based Zorin OS Linux Distro (betanews.com)
"With a click of a button, you can change the desktop layout to match that of Windows versions and Gnome 3. The Ultimate edition...also features Ubuntu, Gnome 2 and macOS-like layouts." BrianFagioli shares an article about a Linux-based operating system "designed for Windows-switchers."
While the company does charge for an "Ultimate" version, the "Core" edition of Zorin OS 12 is entirely free... "As Zorin OS 12 is based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, it will be supported with security updates until April 2021. This makes Zorin OS 12 the ideal choice for large deployments in businesses, governments, schools and organisations", says The Zorin OS Team"... Zorin OS features some really great features, such as Google Drive integration with the file browser.
Although unlike Windows 10, its default browser is Chromium.
Although unlike Windows 10, its default browser is Chromium.
Making a desktop look like Windows 10 is hardly the requirement for a replacement. Can it run Windows software, or replacements for them in a way no other linux distro could? I think we know the answer, hell no.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSdRTOh2jeA
Seriously, those of us who can install an operating system are hardly scared by "moving to a desktop environment like GNOME or Unity can be confusing and scary (from TFA)." Those of us who are scared by such a monstrous change in paradigm will never be able to install an OS, or understand that an OS is not part of the laptop, for what matters.
Either these guys manage to get their stuff preinstalled on some decent PCs, and I wish them the best luck possible, or I hardly see some hacker giving them 15 bucks for the privilege of a macosx-inspired theme, 20 crappy games and video wallpapers (I may give them some money to NOT have video wallpapers).
this post contain no useful information, no need to mod it down
Remember: Zorin is the name of the bad guy in the James Bond movie "A View to a Kill", played by Christopher Walken.
Sorry, but just making the UI "similar" is not enough to make it an "alternative" any different than the likes of Mint.
It would need to actually be able to run every Windows based applications and games, without issues, for it to be an "alternative".
This is just Linux with a different coat of paint on top, nothing new.
So, let me see if I got this straight.
Someone sat down and started thinking "How can I convince people to switch to Linux from Windows? What does Windows have that people want, but can't find on Linux?", and their brilliant conclusion was that what people REALLY wanted was that awful, ugly and schizophrenic "I'm not quite a mobile device but I'm also not also entirely a desktop" user interface?
AND they want to charge people for this?
This is why Linux will never make it on the desktop... people are totally clueless.
"Pros: It's not Windows 10
Cons: It's trying to look like Windows 10"
Can I play Battlefield on it? Can I play Civ 6? I guess not.
I would love to switch to Linux. The fact of the matter, nearly every program which I want to run, does not work natively on Linux.
Office? Nope. Photoshop? Nope.
Please, do not tell me to use WINE. Sure, it may be possible to get it going, but it is shit. Complete and total shit.
Wine is like buying a 911 4S then insisting the buyer replace the tire with a 13 inch wheels from a 1979 Datsun B210. Sure, it will technically work, but what the fuck did you buy that car for?
Ubuntu's failure to make a decent UI has opened the door to distros like Mint and ZorinOS to fill in the gap. Too bad for their ivory tower attitude on this topic, Ubuntu is otherwise very good.
lets see... replace one big spyware with another big spyware
just another clone of Canonical that thinks its an OS
no thanks, fuck off
When I started with Linux we had maybe five serious distros, and I don't think we have that many more nowadays, maybe ten. If you're going to make you own window manager or desktop then that's great, I applaud that. But this is an entire distro in itself. Are you really going to keep up with security patches on the same level as the Ubuntu or Debian security teams? Because that's what you need to do today if you're making an OS that you want to be taken seriously. Otherwise it's better to just make a package and have users install it from your repository.
I haven't experienced windows 10, but 8 is worse than 7 and 7 is worse than XP, so I'm not exactly full of joyous anticipation.
Maybe there's a 3rd-party addon that'll make it almost as good as ME?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Are we reading the same title/summary?
For me this means "If you don't like Windows 10, then install Zorin OS and you can change the desktop layout to match the Windows version you like."
How about...I need to do a job so I can make money and the applications are only on Windows? What a bone headed argument to make. GIMP is not a replacement for Photoshop. It just isn't. Telling me to go from a Ferrari to a Yugo is not a compromise, that is career suicide.
That's for yet another Linux distro.
But it seems that all of that silliness has followed me. First Unity and Gnome 3, and now a conscious and deliberate effort to emulate Windows. I wonder if Zorin will eventually have those oh-so-helpful telemetry 'features' too.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
I'm a Mac user, but - in my opinion, Windows 7 was actually the pinnacle* of Windows' operating systems. It's what I've used in any home VMs I've set up for stuff requiring Windows, such as my wife's sewing software.
8 and 10 seem like several steps backward; although 10 is progressing and likely will eventually get to where it's indistinguishable from 7.
* For sufficiently low definitions of "pinnacle".
#DeleteChrome
... for the simple reason the desktop isn't cluttered (unless I want it cluttered), it's easy to add / remove app launchers, the desktop look and feel are easy to configure. It looks a lot like Windows 7, which worked for me no problem. I'm not a big "make your desktop like your personality" guy. I just like getting work done, and I want my desktop to do what it's supposed to do: gimmie GUI, with a minimal amount of fuss. I've been using Mint for the last 3 years and it's my favorite distro.
Windows 7 then?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Hmm,I hardly notice a difference. The start menu has more junk under it, but you can remove that...
Why in gods name would you WANT the Windows 10 UI in ANY year?
That whole interface is a fucking disaster.
I almost put my fist though a screen having to suffer fixing that shit OS via its horrific interface. Most infuriating piece of shit I've ever used in 20 years.
Then you have the updates that completely shit on drivers for the trackpad, and it was one of those really awful trackpads with no physical buttons (THANKS Asus), so the buttons now DETECT movement, making it damn near impossible to click precisely.
Try fixing a computer when you cannot track-scroll, click precisely and have to deal with Windows 10s UI. Infinite rage.
I'm probably going to rip the thing off and pop Ubuntu on it.
She only needs Chrome anyway. Just like any average person.
No I don't think you will have happy customers. In fact making Linux look exactly like any other operating system like Windows or Mac is a recipe for disaster. I think of it as the uncanny valley of desktops. At first users may be comforted seeing something familiar. But as they use it, subtle differences will lead to a jarring experience. And sooner or later, as the GP said, users will try to install some cool program they found that won't work when they download it.
In my experience moving people from Windows to Linux, having a look and feel that closely resembles Windows is not at all important. It's not helpful at all. Most Linux desktops function similarly enough to Windows to be nearly immediately usable to most users. Having a look and feel that's different from Windows reinforces the idea that they aren't using Windows anymore, but something different, though it works on the same principles. I have never changed program icons to "Excel" or "Word" as that also would be harmful when they encounter differences (as soon as they open the application... LibreOffice looks and acts very differently from current versions of Office). Instead I make shortcuts entitled "Word Processor" or "Spreadsheet." Often I just leave them as they were.
Really none of this theming nonsense is necessary and it's not helpful to Linux adoption. In fact it may actually be harmful in the long run. Linux desktops have to stand on their own or we're doomed to failure.
Since gnome 3 already has the google drive in nautilus file explorer feature baked in, it means that they are claiming credit for someone else's code.
You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
I can't think of a single case where I use both a website and mobile app, and the mobile app isn't hamstrung, limited and just basically more unpleasant to use than the web site. Yelp, Facebook and Meetup.com are the ones I use most often. In every case the experience is better on the desktop. The meetup app recently got a major revamp that made it much less functional than the web site, and especially annoying.
RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
Nobody would think this was a Windows replacement, especially people that have ever used Windows before.
The awful UI of Windows 10 with the lack of WIndows compatibility of Ubuntu.
(Seriously, I think the main reason people choose to run Windows 10 these days is for the games and some legacy apps.)
Win2k is the last windows version with a efficient UI.
Every version after add more eye candy while simultaneously try to hide functionality. Settings are hidden inside more and more layers and take far more clicks to access.
I would say Win2k is the closest point to "right" any MS OS ever been.
I tend to agree, even though I wouldn't have a few years back. I always thought visual similarity was important for people attempting to transition from Windows -> Linux, but in the end, UI is more than just about the visual, it's also about the interactivity, what people expect to see and whatnot. If you're going to invest time into using Linux, trying to make it look as much like Windows as possible might turn out to be counter-productive because you'll start trying to use Linux LIKE Windows, and once you hit the important differences, the jarring aspect of it tends to result in someone going back to Windows because it's the real thing and not an imitation.
Having said that, it's been something like 20 years and despite making great strides everywhere else, Linux still only has at best 2% desktop share. I think Linux desktops have failed to spark any interest from mainstream users at this point, which to me is classified as being "doomed to failure" already.
Zorin OS features some really dangerous and insecure features, such as Google Drive imposed loss of control over data, data security, user privacy and accessibility via the file browser.
FTFTFS:
Run right out there and get that! What could go wrong? After all... it's Google.
How is supporting Google Drive integration a bad thing? You have to choose to use Google Drive in the first place, so unless there's a vulnerability in the layer itself, I don't really see what your point is.
"Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
lol, one of the major reasons I want to use Linux is because it ISN'T Windows 10. The UI is far worse than Windows 7, for desktop PCs.
What exactly is it you do with your computer that the difference in UI has that much of an effect? The start menu is very similar to 7 and frankly if you just hit the start button and type the program you want, or use the taskbar or desktop to launch programs then it's no different at all. And once you're actually using your programs is it any different at all?
Oh, I see now why you're confused about Windows 7... You think Windows ME was 'good'....
He he, nice one dickhead.
While i agree with you on the boycott i can bet you that there are very few people who are sorry that they have converted.
... when all you need is a decent VT220 emulator?
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Google beat them to it on this one. They made web their common platform. Looks pretty much the same on any OS, any browser. Chrome runs everywhere. Google Docs for office tasks, or even Microsoft Office online or Zoho Office or any number of others.
For non-geeks the OS is becoming increasingly irrelevant. A glorified launcher and file manager, mostly replaceable by the browser and cloud storage. It's actually great for consumers, in theory. No updating apps, files automatically backed up and available everywhere... Maybe the reality isn't quite that great, but we are definitely headed that way.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I'm curious, how does 10 seem like several steps backwards?
Tired of my customary (Score:1)
Not until they add an outline mode like MS Word's. This is a feature that has been requested since at least 2003, and nothing happens.
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So I saw this article and thought, "Oh neat! This looks like it could be useful, especially if they did a good job of polishing the UI." and I figured I'd check the comments to see what people thought of it, etc.
Aaaaaand as usual, all we have is one flame war after another with people making ad hominem attacks and how people hate Windows or Linux or whatever. (I'm excluding the vast array of racist remarks for my own sanity) But then again, I really shouldn't be surprised at this point.
Has anyone ACTUALLY tried it, and have anything of value to say? Does it work well? Is it easy to configure/use?
I'm an old KDE user, but switched over to XFCE years ago. I've tried Cinnamon and Mate, but none of them work for me like XFCE, particularly on Mint. Usability, configurability, and no-nonsense are what I like and what I find to be the most productive. I really don't mind that there are these experiments with DEs, maybe some of them will stick and some won't. As long as I can make it simple and effective, there's enough room for more than one.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Sadly no torrent links to download this thing. Anyone have one? Their download link http://bitly.com/12core641 redirects to Sourceforge of all terrible places.