Is Zorin Pro v17.1 Worth It? Linux OS Review and Opinion

Here is my experience with Zorin OS version 17.1 Pro. I went through the "looks" of it, through the packaging system, Wine support, and overall stability.

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This video was edited with Kdenlive.

Intro / outro music is borrowed with permission from H0ffman:

0:12 Who is this for?
0:50 What does it promise, what does it deliver?
1:29 Initial reactions
2:06 How does it stand out? Zorin UI themes.
3:20 How else does it stand out? Windows apps support.
3:58 Foobar 2000
6:02 Zorin Pro
6:45 What else comes with Zorin? A ton of apps!
7:21 Snap, Flatpak, deb defaults
8:40 OS stability on my hardware
10:04 My opinion on default DE
10:30 Wrap-up! So finally, who is it for??

[cilivanili]

Your videos are getting smoother and better! Love it! Keep posting. 👊❤️

[mikkels]

I have been using Zorin 16 since it was released, and as you say, it just works. Guess I should upgrade to 17 soon...

[laylasmart]

Zorin is awesome. Exactly what people who comes from Windows need. double click to install and no messing with the terminal.
As for your Windows software, Lutris helps to run third party Windows software to run on Zorin. Try it to make your Windows software work. When that will work flawlessly in the future, it is bye bye Windows.

[realhumanist]

Thank you for your review.

While I'm an advanced user of Linux (20+ years), I like their approach: it gets out of your way. Switching appearances is quick and easy, and consistent. Conversely, with the Plasma desktop, you mimic the look of other OSes but it involves knowledge and time. Why bother when Zorin does it so well? The appearance options also speed adaptation and make switching back and forth between Linux and Windows easier. Sometimes I've forgotten which OS I was using!

I have two minor criticisms. in their software manager, a program often has several package options. It's unclear if the packages differ in functionality and whether the developers officially support them. Even a brief explanation of why you might want one package format over another. I know that one of them is that a Flatpak is often newer than official one in the repositories. But novice users won't know.

I have another annoyance: I can't access non-graphical terminals using key combos. While beginners wouldn't care, ttys can do a graceful reboot when the graphical interface is frozen. Perhaps the Zorin OS developers are worried that novices users might accidentally trigger it and be lost.

I liked elementary OS for its simplistic desktop look (it resembles Mac OS), too, but it's too commercialized. In their software store, some normally-free apps cost money. I don't mind paying for Linux apps but not for the basics. And $5 to install deb files graphically is a bit much when every other distro has it baked in.

I'm going to buy Zorin Pro to get the Windows 11 "look" and I want to support their development. You should, too, even if you don't the extra features. Linux needs more professional developers to maintain and produce more quality software if it's to compete with other OSes.

I love Linux. And I love Zorin.

[germanklenner]

Hello:
First of all I congratulate you for your excellent video, accurate and concise.
I fully agree with you, Zorin Os is an ideal distribution, not only for newcomers but for all those who don't want to complicate their life.
For a basic user, who does not require very specialized programs, it fully covers the needs of everyday life.
Apart from the above, it is a delight to the eye as it is one of the most beautiful distributions in existence.
Greetings and success.

[joeking]

So is this vid for the free or paid for zorin ??.