And in turn Zorin made changes as well.... And on and on it goes with each piece adding or changing something... That's how it works.
You can not agree with it as much as you want, that is however the way the license works. It's been this way for decades and I don't see developers wanting it changed any time soon.
This isn't proprietary software, it's open source. There's nothing "stolen"..... your choice of words leaves much to be desired.
I don't take it personally.... But I'm not here to change your mind either. I know how it works, and I accept it as such.
This is how the system works, whether you like it or not, accept it or not. You have an idea of what it should be and that's that. Maybe you should try and have this argument on Github or any other open source platform with the developers themselves to see if they can explain better for you.
As I said, I'm not here to change your mind, you are free to believe whatever it is you wish. But your belief of what it should be isn't going to change what is.
I am not sure all of what backend changes have been made, but the code at least on the surface looks heavily modified, my guess is that it's for integration and branding. Zorin connect isn't a fork but a project based on gsconnect which is based on kdeconnect.
But Ultimately no matter the distro you choose, you are choosing based on someone else's work of customization because all distros are based off the Linux kernel ~ some of us like the work that others do, and feel that purchasing a "pro" copy to encourage and enable more customization is worth it.
I've worked on custom in-house linux builds for company applications they are total PIA to work with and upkeep, its worth keeping a project alive to have someone else do it for me. unless you enjoy lots of cli time and coding to make your customization.
@Owlatday, have you checked Linux Lite? It's also meant to be used on older hardware, and I personally like it better over Zorin Lite.
However the reason I bring this up is actually the decision the Linux Lite team has made to label the installed applications. For example, they use "Image Editor" instead of the original name, "Gimp", "File Search" instead of "Catfish", and even "Web Browser" instead of "Google Chrome".
Every application is labeled by what it does, not the original name. A lot of applications in Linux have weird names that don't reflect their purpose, and can be very confusing for new comers. So this is a really nice approach to this issue in my opinion. Do you also think this is stolen work?
Well, I didn't planned to generate such a flame...
Since this discussion about Zorin Connect is leading to personal opinion sphere, without any improvement for the community, I think that's better that if someone want to tell me about, it's better to write me in private. I'll be glad to explain better my point of view or changing it with the right argumentation.
Just to make it clear: I don't believe and/or suspect that Zorin Group has done something illegal
even if I have use terms like "stolen" or others (I don't speak well English)
I believe that, morally speaking, they should give the credit to the original creator, since there is not enough changes to claim that is another thing.
Back in topic, another couple of things that I'll think would be great on Zorin OS out of the box:
USB format utility (Gparted is to much risky especially for new user)
Timeshift with an automated prompt at first start (s*it happens)
Zorin Connect not working on another DE example Cinnamon. Propably it working with some Zorin packages and is not compatibility with another DE themes.
Many distros include the name and the app description. Zorin OS Lite does this.
But changing the name of the software is problematic, (and this is what Gnome does, too) because then users cannot identify their applications.
A large number of users express frustration here on this forum over the fact that "Files" is called nautilus elsewhere.
What is confusing is that the distros try changing the names of things - ever.
Having the name with the description just plain works.
It does state its a kde connect for gnome, and kde-connect is available in the software center you can use either, but the zorin branded one matches the aesthetics better as mentioned by @Bourne doesn't work with some DE due the integrations I mentioned earlier.
Well, I don't disagree with this, but I still prefer confusing someone with some experience in Linux, enough to be able to "hop" between distros, than someone who is completely new. These distros are specifically targeted at the latter audience after all.
Even after a few years running Linux daily, still find it confusing sometimes to keep up with names like "Dolphin" or "Nautilus", since I've mostly used distros that make it easy for the user (Zorin, Lite, PopOS, etc). While it can be reasonably expected from me to find the actual name of these programs, I don't think the same it's true for someone who is completely new.
Now, whether it's just a different label or a "rebrand" done by the maintainers I don't really know.
