• Fedora
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    fedilink
    01 year ago

    Let’s use Ubuntu for comparison.

    • Ubuntu is more up-to-date than its spin-offs.
    • Ubuntu will outlive Ubuntu spin-offs, including Zorin.
    • Ubuntu offers paid support, whereas Zorin doesn’t.
    • Ubuntu community is bigger than Zorin. More resources, tutorials, etc.

    Zorin adds only the following value:

    • More themes, primarily lookalikes, which is arguably a bad thing.

    When people see Windows, they expect Windows. Installers, package managers, peripherals like printers, etc. are different from Windows. Pretending to be Windows makes people feel at ease for a moment at the expense of fundamentally misunderstanding what operating system their computer runs on, and it’ll trip them up eventually, probably sooner rather than later.

    See macOS: It looks and feels different. People don’t mistake macOS for Windows. People who use Windows don’t expect macOS to behave like Windows, and vice-versa. But hey, let’s make macOS look and feel like Windows at first glance. Why can’t I run that .exe? What do you mean, I must use an app store? What is HDCP, and why does it prevent me from connecting this laptop to the projector?

    For iOS that’d be questions like: Where is the Play Store? Why can’t I install that (Android-only) app? I think you get my point.

    This is one of the reasons why branding exists. Yet many Linux distros would like to believe they can replicate the Windows experience through a miracle, and fool themselves into thinking that’s a good thing for Linux newcomers. It’s especially bad for people who don’t know they use Linux, like when they use computers at the office, library, etc. with a distro like Zorin.

    • @TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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      fedilink
      21 year ago

      I mean, most DEs copy Windows (KDE does, Cinnamon does, etc).

      • Taskbar along the bottom that shows opened programs

      • Start button that opens a small start menu in the bottom left

      • Clock in the bottom right

      • System tray in the bottom right

      • Frequently have menu bars at the top of apps

      • Minimise, maximise, close at the top right of each app

      • etc

      So tbh it seems harsh to criticise Zorin for copying Windows when it seems, with the exception of Gnome, that all actual up to date DEs have copied Windows. And if they went with vanilla Gnome they’d not really be offering anything different at all.

      • Fedora
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        fedilink
        11 year ago

        Definitely count these other DEs into my criticism. They’re part of the problem.