That "780,000 Windows users" number is just made up for the title as clickbait.

That number is never mentioned in the original blog post.

All they said is they have a million downloads and "over 78% of these downloads came from Windows". At no fucking point did they imply that means 780k unique users. There's no reason to assume that everyone who downloaded the ISO actually went on to install it.

They also want $48 for their Pro version which comes with a "professional-grade creative suite" consisting of... GIMP, Blender, Inkscape, Kdenlive, and... Audacity (?), going off the screenshots they show:

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They're shamelessly reselling free software as some sort of comprehensive package, and it's not even their own distro. They're just piggybacking on Ubuntu.

And their premium support only covers... installation?

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But hey, they support this edition with updates until 2029!

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Of course, pay no attention to the coincidence that the Ubuntu LTS version it's based on also hits end-of-life around then:

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So I'm not really sure what you're actually getting out of this purchase besides some extra themes and some really formulaic desktop wallpapers, and a couple proprietary apps. They say they "contribute to upstream Open Source projects" but offer zero evidence; their site doesn't even have any Github/Gitlab links.

I know some who went to Linux and a few who moved to Mac. But no one is seeing Win11 and saying "oh man, I gotta get in on that".

Even if most of those trying it out eventually go back to Windows, this is still great for Linux!

Bruh ain't no way people are choosing Zorin OS over all the available options.

If this is a result of people searching "best windows like distro", they're profiting off of a windows theme for GNOME, not even a full DE.

You can achieve the same thing with zero effort on any distro because DEs and themes aren't tied to a distro.

My machine was once VERY capable. It's not a top of the line gaming box but it's still capable and shows no signs of crapping out yet. Can't run windows 11 but it's not worth throwing away my computer over.

I'm far more bothered by them making Brave the built-in default browser, than I am by them charging for themes & tech support.

Just installed CachyOS. It just works.

Never going back

I just installed Linux Mint on my dad's old laptop. He asked me to do it!

I checked and it could run Windows 11 with a RAM upgrade. But he wasn't interested in that.

He was surprised at all of the software installed by default. And mostly just uses the browser to read his Outlook mail....

Penguin sounds intensify

More!! More! Everybody get others into Linux Mint and Pop OS Cosmic as well!! I am doing my part if we want better we must grow the community

I’m gonna make it 780,001 today.

Zorin would t be my first choice. But happy to see those numbers.

I am a macOS user for work and had windows mostly for games on my personal computer, when I got a new laptop last year it came with win 11… it was so annoying to need to skip literally ads for Microsoft services… that even being my “leisure” computer… I spent the time getting Linux Mint, deal with Nvidia drivers on Linux just to have steam there

The games I am playing recently are working great on Linux and my computer feels faster now.

This particular laptop had a problem with WiFi drivers and Nvidia drivers, but getting past this first setup, I must say Linux Destop is easier and fast to use.

I downloaded Mint last week and started the installation but got cold feet when it came to drive formatting. I still want to keep my win10 operational in case I won't be able to run something on Linux.

I never actually used Linux before... I installed it 3 times before and always quickly went back to windows due to some compatibility or driver issues, but...

I am NOT switching to win11... It's enough that I am forced to use it at work. That system is so fuckin stupid... They took a lot of minor elements and just made each of them worse... I get that the sales department told you to shove OneDrive and Copilot everywhere, it's stupid and annoying but I get it, it's just plain old greed, but why can't the Calendar show the whole month and don't work on the second monitor?!? (Are you planning to add it as a paid subscription later?!?)

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Someday Microsoft might realize that Windows should be rolling‑based, like CachyOS. By that time, it will be too late for them to catch up and bring everyone back to Windows.

I really hope these people don't accept that it's normal to charge for different desktop environments.

Fuh door uh!

Fuh door uh!

Fuh door uh!

also because w11 is filled with glitches and bugs to the brim.