this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2025
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Why does Zorin exist?
Linux Mint exists to be defuckulated Ubuntu, and to show off the Cinnamon desktop which is defuckulated Gnome.
Neon is KDE's in-house distro, because I guess they get to have one even if it is functionally identical to Kubuntu.
Manjaro is Arch that's ready to go out of the box.
What is Zorin for? Do they develop any software, or do they charge money for re-themed Ubuntu Gnome?
I said that's the reason Manjaro exists, not that it's any good at it.
Nobody has answered me what Zorin is for.
It's for people who don't know what an operating system is (probably over half the world population or much greater) but can understand "this is like Windows but works faster and with less viruses, and it has something like Microsoft Office but free".
It was the most easy to convince others to use it during the Windows 8 era because it looked so much like Windows 7 and likely the same is happening now with the end of life of Windows 10.
Not that hard if you ever spoke to anyone who doesn't really understand computers. Good for you I guess that you came from a family of tech literate people I guess.
Same could be said about Mint; I was asked several times what version of WIndows I had on my laptop. Some people are convinced to this day they met a guy running Windows 9.
This EXACTLY what I'm gonna tell people now with a straight face
Thanks
Sure, these days it could be said (though Mint still is a bit different looking enough that it could also be said it looks less like Windows 10 than Zorin - that's why they think you're running Windows 9 instead). 10 - 15 years ago? No, Mint didn't look like Windows. Maybe Windows XP but not 7.
That's why Zorin exists, because back then it actually looked a lot like Windows, and was one of a few that did so.
And, it could also easily change it's look to XP, Vista, 95, and Mac back then too. I think now though it's only Pro that it has all the options, but it also has expanded options I see including ChromeOS (which I imagine is something certain schools would prefer).
And unlike Mint, even the core edition can easily swap to a touch type interface for those with touchscreen laptops.
The default silver and green themes didn't, but it was fairly trivial to make something out of Cinnamon that someone watching you google something would go...wait, that's not 7, 8 or 10...
You vastly overestimate the average computer user's abilities.
I mean, yeah. 99/100ths of the human race couldn't lift a fork to their mouth by themselves. it's why they're all so fat.
But no you go to the Themes dialog in the settings and change it.
Jesus fucking Christ
I, personally, think Omarchy is the best "easier to install Arch" out there - you can hand out a flashdrive to anyone with at least the most basic IT-knowledge and they would get a working, useable and upgradeable system within ~20 minutes.
Why would anyone who wants something easy to install go with Arch? You're not the target audience! Just install Fedora or Debian!
Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Suse... in the end, it doesn't matter. If you (you as in "newbie Linux user") find a distro that captures your attention that is all that matters. For me - personally - it was some Slackware based distribution that hooked me back in the 90s....
ARCH
Yes, Omarchy is in some ways quiet... hacky and has a bit of a "style over substance" approach, but i think that is not THAT important for the role it fills. It remembers me of the various riced up setups from the early 00s (and perhaps late 90s, but my memory is hazy in that regard) that simply looked cool (i just say "compiz") and had this WOW effect on regular Windows users.
Omarchy has this and also benefits from an idiot proof setup routine. If it drags in people from Windows its good, some will start tinkering with it, some will dig deeper into the Linux / Unix world... its an entry level drug in a way.
It's a defuckulated Ubuntu with a a dozen custom Gnome extensions. They do publish the extensions code. It exists because Mint is often ugly and not very ergonomic. See the "file" apps for both distros, Mint's buttons are too small and the progress indicator is a tiny 16px icon in the status bar.
And sometimes the dark themes available in Mint make the buttons the same dark colors as the dark backgrounds ;u; (cinnamon user here)
I remember having this bug on Debian, like, 7 years ago or something