Windows or Zorin?

Chat about Zorin
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(Please don't take this down, again)

Now this may sound like a dumb thing to post considering I'm in the Zorin forum which is a Linux distro, but if I post this on Microsoft I'd be lucky not to get a ban. And I'm pretty sure even the biggest Linux mains have used Windows at least once before so that's something to lean on.

---Story incoming----

Now personally I prefer Windows, I grew up with Windows Vista/7 and it has never failed me to the point I'd pack my things and get a Mac, but I have used Linux/Zorin before. Zorin was my first Linux OS that was pre-installed on a Lenovo PC I got late 2021 and to be fair it was solid. It had a nice lightweight sense to it and wasn't bloated with sponsors, but the OS felt a bit Anorexic. In a sense where, as a common Windows user I couldn't do many things I wanted to do, like .exe files and many pre-release or uncommonly supported apps didn't have Linux versions, and before you say 'You should've used Wine', that thing was like a Fischer-price key to the lock for Area 51. Terrible support and left you smashing your keyboard (pause) in frustration. After a whole lot of toleration I eventually had enough and wanted to go back to Windows. The current latest OS at the time was Windows 10. So of course I first tried to use the installation assistant, didn't work because it was an exe file and wine is trash. Then the media installation assistant. I got a big 'ol DVD and burned the iso onto there via the assistant, booted my PC into it and at first it looked like it was working, then it got stuck and never worked. This happened every time. Even with an official windows 10 DVD. Eventually I gave up and tried to go to Windows 7, so I could upgrade to 10 from there. Same process, boot the DVD. Black screen. Just like that I was denied access to Microsoft software again. I decided to call it quits for a while. Then one day I was messing around in Zorin OS settings and accidentally deleted the system partition. Big mistake. I reboted the PC for the last time, the screen read -No OS Found- I was honestly shook, I had tried my DVDs and everything. I even made a live Linux and Zorin DVD and it still didn't work. I was kinda heartbroken when I shut it off for the last time.

Skip to around August 2023 I had ordered a USB off of Amazon for my developer projects when I stubbed my toe on the empty PC. And then It hit me, I should've used a USB. I have no clue why I didn't do it earlier. So I logged into my newer PC I had gotten a year later (Windows 10) and ran the Media Installation assistant, copied the iso file and stuck the USB into the old PC and it worked faster than lightning, within 20 minutes I had Windows 10 on that PC. I was so happy because that was a Christmas gift and I hardly forgave myself for breaking it because I wanted a new OS. Move to the present, I am currently using this PC to type out this story on Windows 11. Even though it's got 'unsupported' hardware it work better than some pre-built Windows 11 PC's. I use this PC to code and develop things for fun, and honestly I've grown attached to it again. I can install a bunch of apps and games I can actually play without that â– â– â– â– â– â–  Wine and my PC doesn't look like the Minecraft code for a split second when it boots. I don't think I could ever be persuaded to switch to a Linux distro again, but I have Zorin on virtualbox, for nostalgia.

Anyways I'd like to know your thoughts and if you have any stories that got you into your preferred OS and why, and your opinions the two OS' and on my fairly straightforward but difficult journey.

---Bits I missed out while writing---

  • I used to use Windows 10 on virtual box while I had Zorin, and used that instead for a good 2 months before I broke Zorin, but it was unreliable as I would run out of storage all the time and the VM would never boot. Also it just didn't feel the same
    -I had wiped the SSD partition of the PC and converted it to NTFS at some point in 2022 while trying to install windows, but Windows never installed. Hence why the installation was so smooth a year later
  • Discord was one of the few apps I could install on Zorin as Discord is cool and also the Zorin store is empty :confused:
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I came to Zorin OS the usual way... my Windows 7 laptop hard drive went bad, I didn't have the key or any proof-of-purchase for the OS, I didn't have a drive clone of the installation, and I didn't want to shell out for Win11 because my wife's got it on her laptop and it's horrendous... I long for the days of WinXP... it was stable, lightweight, easily configurable, didn't spy on you constantly and got out of your way so you could do stuff. I even had Win7 set up to look and act like WinXP.

I'd looked into Linux in the past, but the drivers issue always tripped me up. I looked around for a Linux flavor that would Just Work, saw Zorin OS mentioned, tried it on my laptop with a new hard drive, and it Just Worked.

Then that laptop died (the BIOS went bad is the nearest I can ascertain... it would turn on, but I couldn't even access the BIOS setup), so I got a new laptop.

Before I even booted the new laptop the first time, I cloned the Win11 installation to an external drive, wiped the internal drive, and installed Zorin. After I knew it'd be stable, I got rid of the Win11 clone.

I'm never going back to Windows unless M$ commits itself to producing an OS that doesn't spy on users, doesn't dictate to users how they should use and configure their machine and gets out of one's way so one can get stuff done.

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I started fairly recently as a young lad in the 90's with slackware on a 486dx - was mad it wouldn't run on my 286 laptop, but constantly swapped between linux dos, pcdos, and windows 3.11 - though my preferred machine at the time was my Amiga :slight_smile:
I then dabbled with Mandriva PclInuxOS, Slax, *buntu (all the flavors) - and Used Linux Mint for many years, during these times I also ran Windows machines including betas such as longhorn as I was in the IT field and needed to keep up on support and upcoming technologies.
I have supported Windows, Mac and Linux Environments and mixed for Academic, Government and Private entities.
I settled on Zorin because it works, workss nicely and at >40 im tired of reinstalling every other week due to my folly and experimentation lol

I also was active in other internet things iirc, booters, :pirate_flag: and used to make cheat and other tools for games (long time ago, my skills have since expired lol)
edit - and by long time ago i had to cease these things when i went into government contracting in 2007

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Since I use a Chromium based browser, I apply the Autoscroll Chrome Extension in order to autoscroll with middle mousewheel click.

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My first experience with computers was my dad's old pc. I don't know exactly how old it was, but I think it was bought before I was born. By the time I started using it a bit, it had already gotten upgraded to Windows XP. My first experience with it was a very basic use: school projects on microsoft office, playing pokemon on a game boy advance emulator and being dissapointed that Minecraft didn't work on it (which is to be expected, since the pc had less than 500 mb of ram). Kind of a basic use, but it never crashed, the updates never interrupted me, and, even if it could be slow most of the time, it never freezed. Old but good

As much as I like how Windows 7 looks and the many positive things I have heard about it, the closest I got to experiencing that version was seeing the teachers use it on the school pc

Later, my dad got a laptop that came with windows 8 pre-installed and I did use that a bit for school projects and to see how that new version felt like: being used to a slow Windows xp pc compared to a new medium-end laptop felt like a new world. I didn't mind windows 8's horrible UI decisions, as it was an excuse to try to learn something new. The start menu button being gone wasn't a huge deal for me because I always open it with the super key on the keyboard, and finding where other things were and how to use them was like playing hide-and-seek for 9 year old me. But I can see why windows 8 was hated though

My next experience was... back to windows xp with a cheap and used laptop, but this time it was a laptop that was fully mine, unlike the previous pc and my dad's laptop, so I could mess around more with installing programs, changing themes, and games. I admit that I accidentally downloaded a virus once, but somehow creating a new user and using it instead prevented the virus from running at start-up, so I continued using that laptop until 2018, year in which I got an actual new laptop. Surprisingly, as famous as windows xp is for being unstable and having security problems, I never got hit with a blue screen, and the experience was smooth and acceptable OS-wise

Next was another laptop, which i still use nowadays. It came with Windows 10, and even though the programs I used on the windows xp laptop felt much more smooth and responsive on this new one, OS-wise I felt amazed the first few days, and a bit dissapointed not long after. Freezing, crashing, updates at the worst times and taking way longer to install than xp's updates... and on top of that Windows 11 is unsupported on that laptop and windows 10's end of life is just in 2 years

Then I saw a few videos of the steam deck, became interested in linux, spent a few months trying to figure out why I couldn't boot after installing and then here we are. I'm having fun with the experimenting, learning to use the terminal and also appreciate things like the software store for when I need to get things done fast. Linux, Zorin to be specific, can be an OS really easy to use, or an OS you have to experiment and search online how to do something. It all depends how do you want to get things done and if you want to learn something new or not, being the perfect OS for most of the people who want things simple and easy, and for all of the people who are willing to learn something new

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wha...?
Windows XP is famous for being extremely stable. It was built on the NT kernel.

Whereas on Linux, 2 years is seen as ancient technology and we need a new OS every 6 months...

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My first lower pc was atari with disk 5.25", some neigborous using mostly commodore 64 with a casette.
Then next comes win 95 probably what i don't remember exactly 20mb or 400mb,98 second edition XP,many another next versions worst for me was me,2000,windows 8. The best performance and simple was 98se,xp,W7 and propably first time i have contact with linux in 90 years,W10.
W10 and W11 i am not to fanboy because the operating system have taken control what i can and what i cannot do that on my pc. W11 mostly with apps like W10 where mostly thing i will never used.
My journey with linux started when my pc and hardware start support linux it was something with Zorin 15. Before I also bought Zorin version to know how it going better. Then I started with 2 years more learning about linux and distrohopping.
I tested also hackintosh if all that rumor about how it is great.
When I started using a Zorin i was very excited with version 16 how it is stable,fast and mostly all things software working what i used on W7.
It wasn't easy when you many years sitting on one "chair windows".
The conclusion what i taken when using Windows and Zorin, start wondering what really i need on my PC. I was wondering what stop using to get linux my daily driver. Yes linux is mostly my daily driver.
Sometimes i back to my old pc where is W10. Now i have a PC newer and this all working with linux.
I still waiting on new release Zorin 17 but I know Zorin 16 have a support to 2025.
Conclusion
Windows - not all programs will be worrking on linux or mac.
Mac - conclusion not to much software on store also mostly not big hard disk and ram. Mac you need hardware for that "apple stuff". Not for gaming.
Linux - You can build hardware what will be working perfectly.
Many software what is near windows or mac will be working on linux distribution
Of course not all will be working on linux because this is open source and we know a corporation don't share a closed code (non-free.)
With linux my life is more simple without bloat software and many
advertisement.
The linux learning me, I don't need thousand applications and stuff what is on webside and I can choose replacement program on linux.

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Well, many of the videos on youtube I watched back in the early 2010s pointed at xp as a very vulnerable and easily getting the blue screen error and viruses. I'm guessing it was satire and I didn't realize at the time

It's not the same needing to update and being able to without too different system requirements and perhaps even performance improvements than having to update unsupported hardware to an even more bloated OS

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Yes that is true how much space taken windows with all that drivers is unziped.
Linux distributions are more precise about drivers and software also customize desktop. Besides Fedora is updated every 6 months.

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Probably not satire, but perceptions of the time, maybe. If you look it up currently, you will see XP is listed as one of the most successful and long run Windows OS.

Windows OS is quite different - true. It is One OS with One Desktop Environment.
GnuLinux has many environments, much of which is modular. Windows standardization makes dependencies and updating much easier.
But GnuLinux is amazing in how it manages so much variety as well as it does.

Windows OS is generally well supported and stable. It has issues and problems, because that is just computing. And there are helpful forums on the internet for users to try to find help on.
My own complaints about Windows stem from:

  • Telemetry. Including that the TPM is actually a backdoor for Microsoft to access your system.
  • A lot of controls placed over the user. The system is more locked down in convoluted ways.
  • Self updating and self-restarting without your authorization. (For me this was a big one. It would light up the computer at 3am and wake me up).
  • Easier target for security broaches.
  • It's illogical and impractical file tree. It is like an explosion in a kite string factory instead of being a logically placed linear tree like GnuLinux is. Finding system files in Windows is absurd.
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You are awesome.

I have pointed this out many times and almost always the response is... "What are you talking about?" You are the first other human being on Planet Earth that independently noticed this to my knowledge.
I cannot understand how it is so many people do not notice it.

Just my quick peeve.

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You mean that Windows 10 AME - Ameliorated | Remove Spyware, Bloatware and Botnet

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Wow. The authors description is very honest:

Is Windows 10 AME safe to use?

NO. But it’s way better than the bloated version of windows Microsoft presents you with. Here is a list of the things that concern me:

  1. It’s illegal.

That’s it. That’s my only concern. Keeping in mind that Windows 10 AME is illegal is important! Microsoft is not officially supporting and updating it. Yes, it’s open-source and shared on GitHub, but if you aren’t a programmer and paranoid, use Ubunto Linux or any other user-friendly distribution.

How does Windows 10 AME differentiate from Windows 10 by Microsoft?

It’s the same operating system, but here’s what changes:

  • Windows AME turns off all the spying features of Windows 10
  • Disables Cortana
  • Removes Edge browser and installs Firefox instead
  • Removes the MS Office because it has a keylogger inside
  • Denies 94% of the attacks related to the Administrator vulnerability
  • Removes the “Start menu” and the Taskbar
  • It gets rid of the advertising software that comes preinstalled with Windows 10
  • It removes unneeded bloat from the GUI

Windows 10 AME Disadvantages

  • In theory, you may face problems with Direct X 12 (No one had till now)
  • It asks for an Administrator password for basic operations
  • You can’t use the new MS Office (but you can use Open Office or Libre Office instead)
  • Not all settings are fully customizable
  • Only through terminal input can some system settings be changed
  • Some system settings are going to reset to default on the next restart
  • There are no updates and no official support
  • 32-bit versions aren’t supported
  • The internal search function isn’t working as intended
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This is very good suggestion.

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It's probably people who never tried to change any settings

Some settings are only on the legacy control panel, some only on the new settings app. Some settings require you to open the control panel and click on something that redirects to the new settings app, and once there scroll down and click on something that redirects once again to the legacy control panel

I have not used windows 11 much myself other than seeing it a bit on my dad's pc or a very laggy vm on my laptop, so I'm pretty sure there are a lot more abominations like that that I haven't seen yet

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very first pc was a vic-20 followed by a c64, then a tandy1000hx (dads) but i loved my amiga 1200 - greatly miss the commodores - if you havn't seen it already check out https://myretrocomputer.com/ they make a mini-itx commodore case and some prebuilts - probably going to be the case for my next build

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With Linux you can doing more. Here is example.

desktop5
desktop51920Ă—1081 117 KB

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I started on a zx81 soon followed by a MSX-2 and I wrote machinecode for the last one (bricking two of them with that...)

Some time later I dove into the old 286xt and at pc's with their heavy 64mb harddrives lol, these drives got stuck regularly and hitting them with a screwdriver helped often.

Those were all monochrome screens and I loved the dos-shell. I remember using Linux back then too and even made it dual.boot ofcourse after messing up the partitions several times. Then for about 20 - 25 years it was all dos-shell and windows.

But I am sick and tired of Windows treating me like a baby and taking control over my new laptop like it is theirs not mine and I am defo switching over and never use Windows again. There are many things that I have to do to get back developing my websites and applications especially where coding is concerned, I don't like Visual Studio, I prefer NPP and tried Nqq here in Linux already, but the difference is too big, so I am in for good tips on this one.
I also have my two favorite browsers installed: Tor and Opera (I also don't like Firefox, I know: I am a weird one).

But I am happy to be able to get away from the Gates-family now with my dual-boot 4 days old laptop and some day windowswill have to move forgood.

Btw: I have tried many distros with a USB stick but Zorin was way before the rest, second were Mint and Elementary but Zorin radiates professionalism, I do not want to go full cowboy on my new machine so I chose for what I thought was the most reliable one and I am glad I went for Zorin.

Goodbye Windows, we had good times and bad times, but you have gone too far this time.

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You might try notepadqq

sudo apt install notepadqq

The nqq package is no longer maintained.

There is this fork that offers better performance but is experimental:

I admit, I use VisualStudio Code on Zorin OS. It really has much more to offer than NPP or NQQ.
I understand you have clearly said you do not like it... I have my own gripes with it... But when push comes to shove and if you must settle for it, it may become a viable option.

I understand this sentiment completely.

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Ofcourse: if the choice is either Windows or VS-code it will be vs-code, but I have seen some other IDE's and one of them I like a lot: bluefish (despite this name...).

Thing is: I want all my projectfolders in a left window-pane and NotepadQQ does not provide that, I have also been looking at some others and same thing. But bluefish allready has it and even more: my whole filesystem and all my drives are in it and the whole treestructure is easily expandable. I have all my project-files on a separate drive so that I can access them easily from everywhere.

Bluefish also comes by default in my native language Dutch which was a huge surprise and it supports ftp ans sftp connections to work directly online.

Besides the basic languages like html, css, php, python etc. I do not need much more than that and VS-code is way too heavy for me, I like lightweight applications.

So I think I have found it, thanks again!

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