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Comment by cosmic_cheese | Hacker News Reader

More than other distros, Zorin markets (and has marketed) itself as Windows-like, which probably elevates it in search rankings and LLM queries for people looking for a distro that more closely mirrors what they’re familiar with.

People really, really want a “Windows, but just the good parts” with as little deviation and required learning as possible in terms of desktop experience. A distro with a DE that nearly perfectly replicates “greatest hits” Windows versions (2K/XP/7/10) would probably be doing serious numbers right now if it existed.

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> A distro with a DE that nearly perfectly replicates “greatest hits” Windows versions (2K/XP/7/10) would probably be doing serious numbers right now if it existed.

Funnily enough Zorin used to offer this.

http://web.archive.org/web/2012fw_/zorin-os.com

"Zorin Look Changer" used to "let you select from Windows 7, XP, Vista, Ubuntu Unity, Mac OS X or GNOME 2" themes, whilst newer versions want you to pay nearly $50 for the privilege (although they have significantly reduced their offerings, with their "Windows Classic" theme just being their "Windows-list like" theme with a slightly different start menu).

$50 seems cheap for what they have probably put tons of money into to have consistent theming, in terms of both actual aesthetic and functionally.

I say this as someone getting annoyed daily by KDE inconsistencies over decades.

I have never used Zorin or its theme changer, but I strongly doubt it's much better than what can be accomplished by installing a third party theme, which are never that good and only resemble the mimicked operating systems in the broadest of strokes.

Shrug? Our experiences have been totally different then.

I bought an older version of Zorin, probably 15 or 16, to review for a blog, and I was totally impressed with the consistency of the theming.

To each their own, but Zorin is a cheap on-ramp for people coming from older Windows/Mac and looking for a somewhat apples-to-apples experience of Windows or Mac, with actual updates and not a bunch of ads or telemetry.

Not everyone is a Linux power user

The consistency of the theming isn’t the issue, it’s that it’s just theming (unless I’m just misunderstanding). KDE or GNOME with an XP theme applied settings toggled still acts like KDE or GNOME rather than acting like XP. The resemblance is skin-deep.

Good theming is great to have, but what’s more important is that the user’s prior experience and muscle memory still applies, e.g. the task manager can be summoned in the same ways, settings panels are structured similarly (and aren’t either overflowing or too stripped down like KDE and GNOME, respectively), key shortcuts are the same with no caveats, etc.

So... modern Lindows?

Hopefully it goes better for them than it went for Lindows. Though at least the name isn't lawsuit bait.

microsloth windoze

https://jargondb.org/glossary/microsloth-windows

would probably be even better bait, due to the perjorative, and 2 trademarks being adulterated

what was it? "go make a cup of tea this may take awhile"

That seems almost, but not quite, entirely unrelated to my comment.

Kinda. Lindows didn't resemble Windows as closely as its name might suggest and played with fire with its naming. Ideally this new distro would have a custom built DE made to be as close as possible visually and functionally, yet legally distinct (which a skilled designer can easily pull off) and would not tie the branding to Microsoft or Windows in any way.

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