I want to share the following Article what I found. It is in German, so You might need a Translator.
But why I share this when the Language isn't really ... understandable? Because the Content is pretty interesting and would affect Zorin (and others).
Summarized it is about the Future Way of Ubuntu and it's OS Model. Canonical seems to plan to make Ubuntu in the Future to an immutable Snap-only System. Like they have it now with Ubuntu Core. It is nothing for the near Future. But Projects have to think about what they will do - including Zorin.
Linux Mint has as BackUp LMDE where they can switch to primary. This is only a Guess of mine, but I can't imagine that the Mint Team will go the Way with this Ubuntu Concept. But maybe I'm wrong. We will see.
So, now comes the Question related to Zorin: What will the Dev's do? Will they go this Path with Ubuntu or do they stop an switch to a different Base, maybe Debian? What do You think of this Ladies and Gentlemen? Are You concerned?
Unfortunately will never know, as the dev's suffer from serious lack of communication skills. So far, they have been staying the course, when Gnome made changes on Gnome 40 and up. I guess will just have to see, but please note, they already have decided to abandon XFCE for OS 19 and beyond.
Seager is well aware that this purely Snap-based approach won't appeal to everyone.
This line speaks volumes.
Whenever you see a producer, a supplier, or a developer comment that they are aware that people will resist the changes they are proposing - they are announcing intent to apply force.
Microsoft has done it. Google has done it. Facebook has done it.
We have watched world leaders do it, again and again.
Learn from it.
This is a very bright red flag - a warning.
They are saying that they know it is not what they users want, but it is what they want and they are not backing down.
Ubuntu has made grievous mistakes in the past.
Historically, Ubuntu has done much for GnuLinux as a whole, too. We can recognize all that they have done without giving a free pass to do whatever they want, now.
Historically, Zorin OS has bucked against the grain of Ubuntu decisions. But we see a trend where that has been weakening in the latest Zorin OS releases.
Wayland set as default early on.
Firefox and Thunderbird installing as Snaps
Gnome Software store defaulting to Flatpak
They did very little to mitigate the changes that GTK4 and LibAdwaita brought that severely limited the End Users accessibility options. Far less than other Ubuntu-Based distros.
Historically, Zorin OS has not been a reskinned Ubuntu. It offered new things.
Lately, it only offers new things in favor of Ubuntu and Gnome's direction.
(can't get rid of edge, though)