Discontinuation of Zorin Os Lite

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Have you ever known someone that was dating a person and they would make excuses for them a lot? Explain their behavior a lot. From the outside, looking in, you feel like you are seeing what is going on with eyes wide open.
As they are seeing their situation with eyes wide shut.

We humans follow our patterns of psychology. Companies have invested a great deal in this in order to learn how to exploit these patterns to their profit and benefit. Push as far as you can, then pay lip service if you push too far.

We like to have favorites. We like to adhere to a form of loyalty, not out of love so much as because it is easier on ourselves to do so.

I believe. I am a believer. I believe in GnuLinux. I believe in Freedom.
I feel like I assigned this belief to Zorin OS Project. However, Zorin OS is an avenue by which a person can achieve GnuLinux. It is not GnuLinux. GnuLinux is GnuLinux.

A developer cannot pay lip service. They must be believers. A developer must believe in the ethical and practical goals in alignment with the End User. Because if they do not, then the conflict must result in the developer seeking means of exploiting the psychology of the End User to attain their own self-interests.
A developer must be a part of their community.

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Hold up. WHAT is going on?

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My reaction right now, exactly :joy: I'm still trying to even see where this announcement is??

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Look in DOWNLOADS. Then scroll toward the bottom until you see something about "if you are looking for Zorin OS Lite and click on it. There you will see where you can download Zorin OS 17.1 Lite, and the notice about how Lite version will be "sunset".

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Thanks, @Aravisian. Well - any idea on whether or not the Zorin Group will step in and address everyone?

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I was actually planning on installing an updated ISO of Zorin OS 17.1 today or this week, but right now, I'm not gonna do anything. I'd like to see this resolved and/or hear what the Zorin Group says or wants to do. It would be a terrible loss for this forum if @Aravisian left. I don't know. Still a bit surprised at seeing all of this and a couple of other threads, too.

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Wow, thanks for the link... I thought I was going blind as I was looking in the main blog page where I would expect this sort of news to be. This almost feels like sweeping quietly the bad news under the rug.

I must say that I understand and share the discontent regarding this. I mean, for quite a long time I've seen how issues keep piling up here on the forum, but barely any appearances from the developers. This has been a bit demoralizing to be honest, even though I'm only here from time to time, just to learn and help where I can.

On the other hand, I understand and support this decision because it's obvious that the Zorins have too much on their plate already. I really hope this helps them to focus and deliver a good product.
I think it's unfair to say they are pulling a Microsoft here. They are not really forcing anyone's hand, knowing that people will continue to use their product because they own the majority of the market share. Maybe I'm just being too naive, but my money is on the Zorins being simply being crashed with a huge backlog.

In any case, I don't intent to make excuses for anyone. I will continue to watch this story develop until April next year when support for Zorin OS 16 comes to an end. Until then, there's time to see and evaluate whatever this means for the product and the community.

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A very fair response. I mostly agree. @zenzen

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Still, even though it's the element of surprise that's thrown me off here momentarily, I'm electing to do the smart thing and not make any decisions right now for the long-term. Gonna wait this out a while longer. Thanks to all.

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1-the important thing is that : there is zorin lite 17, when come to zorin lite 18 and 19 may be something happen, may zorin change her decision, may xfce be worse and died or may be better, may be new desktops appear, may be new distro will follow the project, like rocky when cantos died.
2-i haven't ever tried the gnome of zorin, but it seems the gnome of zorin is not like the gnome of other distros, the idea of lite in zorin not the desktop , the idea is the ability to work on the old hardware Fastly and perfectly without any problems.

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Yeah, probably best to sleep on it. Also, System76 is releasing their new Cosmic desktop environment this year, at least the alpha I think. I'm really excited about it, but will need some time to tell if it's as good as Zorin OS for people new to Linux (that's my main concern anyway).

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Ask a fundamental question:

How much is on their plate?

I am guilty. Openly, I admit this. During my time, I have repeatedly used this as my excuse for their silence or actions. I assumed a busy or hectic schedule on their part.

I went looking for things, on many occasions, that I could list out on this forum - to show that they are busy.

But if we really examine this objectively... It has always been difficult to justify.
I am a pretty busy guy.
But I still reply in a timely manner.
I don't take two weeks to do it. I had to think up and Look for ways to explain their "busyness".

Reviewing the packages in the Zorin OS repository, which ones require custom scripts or configuration, time to assemble and upload, time to create an .iso, it does not add up to a year and a half. It does not even add up to 7 months. No other distro has such a snail-paced release schedule and they do include custom applications made fully in house and even desktop environments created in house.

I have slept on this for the past few months as one factor after another added to my dismay at the direction.
I was caught off guard when 17 was released with its major changes, then swiftly overwhelmed by the influx of more troubleshooting than we have encountered before.
This announcement to me, follows a very long line of iron-grip controls and changes and lack of communication that has been building pressure and adding up for too long.
I have been actively involved in smoothing the ruffled feathers and reassuring the members in spite of the Zorins silence...

And now I feel like a fool for having done so.

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I don't know what is involved in the process of putting together a distribution, so I can't really say... I assumed the delays in releasing Z17 were due to the big leap in Gnome versions and implementing other under the hood changes. Something must have changed indeed, given the avalanche of issues popping up even to this day.

Like I said, I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone, and I don't believe you did either. All this time, you were advocating for the interests of the end user, based on what has been a good product for you, that's all.

It's truly a shame there's this huge gap between the community and the developers. Compared to other forums it's quite an oddity because this usually means quick feedback loops, which is always desirable.
The complete lack of communication has bothered me a bit, to the point that I (and many, many others) thought you were the public face of the Zorin OS itself. In every way that matters, you really are.

Not engaging with the community is one thing, but not listening to your most involved community moderators is a whole other level. I think they've made a mistake, the Zorin brothers, in letting you down in such a clumsy way.

Btw, let me know if you decide to mount that community you were talking about before.

Still, I think there's plenty of time for everyone to gather our thoughts about what this all means, and for the Zorins to come up with some sort of action plan to keep our minds at ease.

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I am very sorry you feel this way. I agree on two things:

  1. Public communication must improve on the Zorins' part.

    They should've made the Lite announcement a blog post, too.

  2. Timeliness in responding and/or completing things is critical.

    That is true. I agree with you in principle about that. No argument.

So - what now? What's next for Zorin? What's next for @Aravisian?

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Agreed.

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Clearly, I am emotionally influenced.:stuck_out_tongue:

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Hello:
First of all I want to thank the moderators and the community in general. Whenever I had any doubt they always gave me a solution, always with respect, and that is much appreciated.
If I decide to leave Zorin it will be the community that I will miss the most.
One of the things that bothers me about the news is how it is made known, not in the main blog, as it should have been.
One of the permanent complaints is the lack of direct communication between the developers and the community, essential base of the Gnu Linux world.
In the past, the developers sporadically linked with the community, but this is no longer the case.
Maybe it is because the project demands more and more time and work (in one part I read that only the two Zorin brothers and an Italian programmer are directly involved), but they should have solved it a long time ago by incorporating more people (volunteers) as it happens in other distributions.

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I've been a bit distressed by the situation and reading here the distress of others about the future planned sunsetting (abandoning) of Zorin OS Lite. And especially as that future sunsetting may cause some of our more experienced and helpful forum members to maybe be thinking of their own future possibly taking a turn away from Zorin participation (forum and/or OS...).
:frowning: (sad)
I did go to the official Get Zorin and Get Zorin OS Lite links.
Some of that is:

Zorin OS Lite will continue to be available in the Zorin OS 17 and Zorin OS 18 release series.
We commit to making the Lite edition of Zorin OS available in the Zorin OS 17 and Zorin OS 18 release series. That means Zorin OS Lite will continue to be fully supported and maintained until at least June 2029.
We aim to sunset the Lite edition from Zorin OS 19 onwards, so it would no longer be actively developed as an official edition of Zorin OS.

Which I believe means there is no rush to kill off the Zorin Lite XFCE in the near term. Rather it would be somewhere around 2026-ish (obviously a guess). So Lite will be around in a being-developed status for at least a few more years, and even more years for support.
Yes, I agree:

  • better communication from devs would obviously be great.
  • And even better if they'd engage in some two-way, at least with those on the forum who have been here a long while and have a lot of technical knowledge (and who have been so helpful to us newbies).

So... seeing as I have recently gotten on board with Zorin in the last year, and have also converted another Windows user to Zorin as their primary computer OS in this last year as well, the gloom 'n doom is a bit of a downer.
I am hoping that no one rushes to burn any bridges behind them.
Hoping that things will mellow and work out for the best. ... just sayin'

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Speaking for myself, I did not reach any conclusions based on the recent announcement. Rather, I have reached the extreme end of a long strained breaking point. I have outlined the long chain of events that have led to the snap.

It is the straw that broke the camels back.

Gloom and doom is a part of life.

I can make a very long list of examples and so can you. A big part of life consists of
standing up for what you believe is right. We cannot fear judgment of others or making a scene sometimes. There are times when maintaining your ethical principles, standing firm behind your principles and protecting the interests of the masses can or will require a person to jump up on a soapbox and let their cries be heard.

It is not pleasant. But, the feeling of Windows 11 oppression also is not pleasant. How to rebuke unpleasantness without some unpleasantness? I do not know the answer to that.
Sometimes the end result is determined by who has the harder head.

As one individual... I can install XFCE4, no problem. I can handle the maintenance, no problem.
What it comes down to is a Statement Of Support. Or lack of it.
What the ZorinGroups action says to the general public is "we used to need XFCE, but we no longer do."

"To the users that relied on us for this support, you no longer can."

The diversity and the freedom in GnuLinux has always been its hallmark of success. It is its selling point. It is what entices users to try out GnuLinux.
Having Modular software enables this. Reducing this to integrated software that is no longer so forkable, no longer modular, inhibits and limits user functionality.
Distros that choose to stop showing support for this lump all of their support into one integrated Desktop. Just like Microsoft Windows. Having a fully integrated and limited D.E. is exactly what Windows OS is.
The ZorinGroup has made many series of choices that pull back from showing support to the wider GnuLinux Community.
The release of Zorin OS 17 is a hallmark of this transition in many ways. Yes, Zorin OS 18 is stated to carry some support, but that is the end of the line.

In good conscience, I cannot support a distro that withdraws its support from the User Base that makes these distros possible in the first place.
These choices are aligned with Developer interests and yes, Corporate interests. Which is what led me to Zorin OS to get away from in the first place.

To feed self and corporate interests, Microsoft made the choice to Limit the End Users on who can install Windows 11 on what.
And what was the response to this?
A very loud report. And a loss of customers.

Sometimes, you must get on the soapbox to protect that which is threatened and worth fighting for. <(Warning: loud - explicit)

Many Linux Desktop Environments are being threatened and many are wavering. Before long, there will Be Only One. Maybe two, if Plasma can hold its own.

And when that time comes... what will be the difference between Windows And GnuLinux?
One tightly controlled and limited functionality integrated system, or a different tightly controlled and limited functionality integrated that system that holds a much smaller market share? There will be no point in going over to GnuLinux... it's become just the same thing as the thing you are trying to get away from.

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