Zorin OS 16 - Polish that matters - Linux Distro Review

okay so zarin os 16 is out in the wild and this is the release candidate the final release candidate that i've had uh installed on this system for just a little while now uh now here's the thing i've already made a video about zorin os16 and that was when it was back in beta so if you want to go over sort of the new features and uh and what are all the goodies that you can find in zoranos 16 then definitely go watch that video because this video is talking about the end product of zarin os 16 and i believe the impact that a desktop like this can have in the world of computers and technology and uh and in software so strap in buckle up let's get going [Music] okay i'm going to try and keep this particular video a little bit shorter than my last few deep dives where i've talked about operating systems at great length because what i'm running right now is the pro version which replaces the ultimate version that zorran used to have now there is a great debate going back and forth that's existed ever since zoran has used this particular funding model of is it worth paying for the ultimate edition or in this case now the pro edition that they have announced on their blog a few days ago and and look here's my quick hot take on the matter first of all it's not about paying for software that you can download and install for free it's about supporting a project that is putting the desktop and desktop users first that's what it looks like in my head and uh with the improvements that uh the team continues to make to zorran overall and you know the extra little bits and bobs that you get with the pro version to me that is worth throwing a few dollars in this case 39 us type dollars at this project again like in the beta video i want to acknowledge my bias up front because i know that my strong feelings about this project and and how much i love what they're doing for desktop linux probably far outweighs my objective ability to look at an os and judge it on all its metrics of performance and all of that kind of thing however what i do know is that i've been running this os as my daily driver since it came out in its beta form and it has not stopped impressing me yet now here's what it boils down to again if you need features then go watch the beta review video or the beta first look what i'm talking about is just my own subjective opinion first of all the pro version that i have here i also need to full disclaimer acknowledge that this is something that the zorran team made available to me for free i didn't have to pay for it beforehand it's something that the zoran team have done consistently with a lot of linux youtubers as i understand but it is worth mentioning that i do get this on my system without having to pay for it so keep that in mind however the beta version that i was running until this final build was available was the core version and i was set up very nicely in that core version with everything ticking along wonderfully so since then the things that i have appreciated is that now we do in fact have the the windows 11 layout it was originally going to be pitched as the windows 10 x layout but now that we have windows 11 announced and we know what it looks like it was worth updating that great quality of life improvement because chances are zoronos 16 is going to be around for the next three years or so and it will have security updates until uh april of 2025 that means that the majority of users switching from laptops bought in the coming five years are going to be used to windows 11's layout by default meaning that if you've got an os that can look like windows 11 out of the box more power to you it is actually pretty easy to achieve a windows 11 look in the core version simply by right clicking on the taskbar going into taskbar settings and just positioning some of these elements to monitor center now while you won't get the app grid in zoran core that you do in the pro version you still get the same functionality in terms of an app menu with quick links to the stuff that you care about and then the windows key still gives you the app keyboard launcher anyway that's that's default to gnome so it in my mind the the windows desktop or the windows 11 layout is a nice to have but it's not mission critical in my mind what is mission critical is having a task bar that looks consistent that has great little functionality tweaks like progress bars along the bottom of the like file transfers and stuff like that notification badges if you've got messaging apps and that kind of thing living down here and also really responsive window previews especially if you have multiple instances of the app open this taskbar is really functional you can see i've just gotten an email popped through and now i've got a little notification there waiting for me really nice to have i i waxed lyrical about the inclusion of trackpad gestures in my beta video and i have definitely appreciated those over the long run of having this system running the ability to quickly swipe through and pinch to expose the different windows that i have open really nice the other things that i have come to appreciate are really just improvements that the zoran team have managed to package in from other open source operating systems standards and releases so buttery smooth gnome performance is uh largely i guess thanks to the work that the gnome 3.38 release was able to roll into its desktop but to me the desktop does feel consistently more responsive across the board and it has remained so over the course of me running the beta into the final release over the last couple of months to be honest it really has gone pretty quickly now the other thing that i did want to reiterate is just how much software is available to you out of the box from the software store now obviously in the pro version you have a bunch of apps that are pre-installed and honestly i think they have one of the best collections in the pro version of professional grade creative and productivity software key among those are the standouts for me anyway are barrier which is a great open source tool that allows you to connect the same mouse and keyboard across multiple computers to be able to use those con the the same controls to control multiple uh desktops which i think is amazing uh and other little bits and pieces but um the collection of software on the pro version is great but the collection on the soft of software that is out of the box default on zoran os core is also very good but more importantly the ability to go and get whatever software you need from the software store is really great and especially compared to the ubuntu desktop this software store doesn't actually chug like you wouldn't believe the first launch of this uh of this software store for me was snappy and i was able to start downloading and previewing apps straight away and another little tweak that i didn't really realize was a thing because of the fact i don't really use windows software is that they actually have some really handy little warnings that can be that can pop up for commonly installed windows applications so for new users coming over from windows if you are let's say you're wanting to install zoom or you want to install overwatch there's actually a database that zoronos have set up that will compare that setup file and go actually this person is wanting to install zoom rather than installing this windows piece of software which it will attempt to do if you tell it to it will recommend that you go and install zoom from the software store or that you go and install overwatch from the lutrus store and uh and this is flipping amazing because not only will it suggest alternatives if there is no way to get this natively working but it still gives you the ability to just click the install windows app support and give it a whirl anyway chances are if there already exists a great way to do it in the open source world this little pop-up is going to suggest it when you double click on that dot exe or the dot msi file it's like a really subtle little touch that is going to make a huge difference to a lot of people okay i really do appreciate the the list of small things and these are all kind of the cumulative things that have been added to zorin since its last release just by virtue of it being more recent fractional scaling for high resolution displays the latest nvidia file uh drivers i'm using the 470 driver at the moment which is great joining active directory that's courtesy the ubuntu team starring files in the nautilus file manager fingerprint reader support again a lot of this is inherited from the great work that ubuntu has been doing but it's all polished and packaged so much nicer in a product like zorran because they have the time the money and the willingness to invest on the desktop end user experience compared to just uh cobbling a new release together out of all of the open source bits that have been updated but here's where a product like zorin lands for me here's what i want out of a system i want a system that looks consistent that looks really smooth well designed and like it belongs in the 21st century gnome was already giving us that but the elevation of personalization with the accent colors the light and dark theme which can automatically roll over a lovely collection of wallpapers both abstract and photographic at least in the pro version out of the box system tray icons out of the box functional taskbar out of the box quick up quick switching to whatever workflow you are used to be that classic windows mac os ubuntu gnome etc a vast library of software that can easily be updated ready built-in support for any windows applications you might want to run and everything working really smoothly and without any crashes this represents for me personally and again i'm talking very personally because this is the kind of product i wished existed when i first started using linux back in 2010. now the funny thing is that now that we're here and now that we have a recommendation or at least i have a recommendation that i can just throw out to people and just go go download zoranos core16 if you like what you see boot it up in a virtual machine try it on a live usb if you like what you see go and throw some money at the pro version set it up you'll be right for years that is impressive and i really hope to see this project go further with zorin grid and having device management to be able to roll out in schools and workplaces and that kind of thing because honestly the amount of work that the zorran team do to package up a bunch of gnome extensions parts of the gnome desktop a huge amount of open source packaging that the zorin team take on polish up make it as stable and as pretty as possible to then package into their final build of zoronos 16 is really like i mean you might not necessarily agree with what they're doing but you got to respect the amount of polish that is going into every corner of this top to bottom i've seen a lot of linux distributions come and go and the fact that the consistent improvement that a project like zoran continues to show and the every release seems to garner further critical acclaim as it were i would have very few hesitations recommending zorin as like the go-to desktop user linux because this is what i wished existed when i was starting out so yeah this is definitely a shoe in for distro of the year for me personally impressive impressive product and it's a what a time to be alive we have so many fantastic options pop os is killing it elementary os has got an amazing release just come out zoron os is going on to bigger and better things not to mention fedora is just a technological wonder honestly there's so much to love let me know in the comments what is the standout features uh from zoronos 16 for you personally the sum of all its parts to me is incredibly impressive i think i've said that enough now peace out [Music] you

Channel: InfinitelyGalactic

Views: 30,743

Keywords: infinitelygalactic, technology, linux, open-source, free software, ubuntu, alternatives to windows, alternatives to macos, distro reviews, app reviews, zorin os 16 review, zorin os 16 pro, zorin os 2021

Id: 4MXmeqGVEn4

Length: 13min 12sec (792 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 17 2021