This will probably be a controversial take, but just wanted to throw it out there. An optional integrated cloud service could be a compelling offer for a lot of people, especially if it's end to end encrypted. It could require a subscription, guaranteeing regular income for Zorin as opposed to a one time sale for standalone software (which is still great). I sell Microsoft PCs on the weekends for my job, and I see a lot of people on the fence about Microsoft 365 get won over by cloud integration. The convenience of starting a task on one computer and having it instantly available on the next is a valuable feature. Combine that with end to end encryption and Linux, and you could offer people something really valuable and privacy respecting that could also make a ton of money to further the development of this OS and Linux as a whole.
I'm crazy about privacy and even I would love having something like that, assuming everything leaving my PC is encrypted prior to transit and accessible only by me. Implementation would be important though, if someone says no, there should be no further pop-ups about it. Open sourcing and allowing self hosting of the cloud would also be great and probably wouldn't impact profit margins much, since servers require a lot of maintenance and most people just don't want to go through all of that. Anyone with that level of nerdiness would find their own way anyway.
I would say that a cloud service is potentially the wrong way to go about creating more consistent monetization from Zorin OS. The main problem is that privacy focused cloud services for syncing and collaboration already exist, with Nextcloud being probably the biggest example. It's open source, E2EE, self hostable or use it through cloud providers. Syncthing exists for file syncing, Proton Drive is a good OneDrive replacement. You'd essentially be pulling away dev time that could be spent on the OS product, and recreating these services.
I think if Zorin Group did want to pursue a subscription model for that steady revenue, then there's the opportunity that they are sitting on currently, Zorin Grid. Right now there isn't any info about it beyond the concept on the website, but it could be great to bring in the business customer. Organizations could remotely manage their Zorin OS devices, with default option being to run it through Zorin servers for a subscription, but of course in the spirit of Linux allow that control plane to be self hostable on your own infrastructure.
Grid wouldn't duplicate any existing solutions on the market and fleet management is kinda a baseline requirement for any organization (especially schools which Zorin seems to be targeting already with Education edition). Plus the development would still stay focused on the OS as the Grid infra capabilities would be directly tied to system management tools on the OS anyways (think Active Directory vs Azure Entra ID). Anything else related to Grid would be the CSPs (probably best to use a more neutral/friendly CSP like OVHcloud, Hetzner, Linode) work.
Not bad arguments, but Nextcloud mainly appeals to power users, Proton Drive as far as I know can't be installed natively on Linux like it can on Windows and Mac, and something like Zorin Grid would appeal mainly to corporations. Having the option during installation to have a privacy focused cloud service set up that works automatically in the background would ease the transition for noobs in the consumer space who've been heavily reliant on cloud services.
If working in my current job has taught me anything, it's that the average person has a very low tolerance for tinkering and would rather pay to have someone do it for them, even if the price is very high. People are used to convenience at a cost. Not capitalizing on that in an OS aimed to be a replacement for main stream operating systems seems like a missed opportunity to me.
Also, if part of your argument is that replicating existing products is something to avoid, then I would argue that Zorin Grid would be also by that logic, since it already has a number of competitors (AnyDesk, TeamViewer, Steam Link, etc.) AnyDesk and TeamViewer in particular already have corporate facing subscriptions for fleet management on Linux.
And to the point of it diverting resources away from the development of the core OS, at first it would. I won't debate that. But in the long term, the additional financial resources would likely fund development further than it could have without it.
I hear this opinion stated often.
It is anecdotal, and it conflicts with my own anecdotal experiences in which most every person I have worked with, known, been friends to, all prefer to rely on themselves and will only pay for service when they feel overwhelmed or out of their league.
So, I looked for some statistics, instead of Story telling.
The data shows that most consumers consider a Cost to Benefit ratio, and are unwilling to pay a lot out of convenience:
About half will prefer it, even for advanced or complex tech:
The number skyrockets for tasks that are less complex:
I.T. personal seem to often speak from an Experience Bias. Repair techs, experts, that get tasked with solving a customers problem only experience those willing to hand off the work with their money. So... They assume that the majority of people are like that.
@llamasalad324 I think Aravisian has given the best answer on this. I use murena.io. When you sign up for an email account you get 1 Gb of free cloud storage that uses NextCloud (and I am no power user, just a simple desktop user), with servers based in Norway knot in the US). Currently I pay about £17 per annum for 20 Gb of Storage which is all I need. For backups I use external drives and I never download emails to computer or phone.
Well, that gives me a bit more hope for humanity lol. It's true that my own biases play a role. A lot of the clientele I deal with are older or lead busy lives. I hope these trends grow stronger as more and more people are born with advanced technology.
I'm much the same way. I use a very fast encrypted USB for all my backups and carry it around with me, syncing with Unison, and I never use cloud storage except occasionally Proton Drive for sharing files. Maybe it's just the way of Linux to be very independent lol
I think SanDisk are the best available. Integral are now making cheap plastic USB 2.0 compared to SanDisk USB 3.x. I don't know if Patriot are still making USB 3.0 thumb drives these days. I only ever used live boots away from home. Never use encryption or Persistence, the latter shortens the life of the drive.
This is my baby. Recently died on me after about 5 or 6 years of constant use. It's baked in the sun, been dropped, sat on, water spilled all over it, constantly encrypted, etc. As soon as it died I ordered the same one again. That said, USB 3.2 drives are getting more popular now and offer even faster speeds. But if you want something that's fast and battle hardened, the Voyager is the way to go.
Encryption likely shortened the life of mine, but I'd say it's well worth it so long as its contents are backed up somewhere else too. Can never be too careful these days.
