Is it just me, or has it been really quiet lately? No blog updates for weeks. A little more community outreach would be great. Give us a sneak peek, tease what’s coming, next week update, show that things are still moving. Right now, the silence kind of makes it feel like abandonware.
That is normal. The Zorin Dev's are more ... from the quiet Sort, hahaha!
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They should keep us hyped! 
Well, what can I say ... I would find it good when they would be a bit more active, too. And I'm not the only one here. But the current Status is how it is.
Let's help them hype it then. The very best marketing is word of mouth. Zorin...is killing it. Over two million downloads now since the end of Windows 10 support.
Let's seek opportunities to share this Zorin with others. We have friends and family that come to us for support who often express the sentiment "all I want is to...!" they are so frustrated by confusion. They are demoralized at the churn of the "stuff" thrown at them - spam as bad as junkmail, pop-ups blocking line of sight, trying to find that practically invisible "x" icon for closing them. Everything is thrown at them to make a buck because.... stockholders. They monetize this, and that. They are determined to mine all computing traffic for their own servers. (Onedrive has become just plain impossible for the everyday user to avoid.) The marketing department can't resist. The money is too good. All the time saying "our customers are very important to us..." sure, as cash cows. "your privacy is our number one priority..." right, the priority being to eliminate that privacy in the sneakiest possible way. George Orwell's telescreens are real.
Folks need to forget everything they think they know about LInux being just for geeks and not fit for the desktop. Frankly, It is Microsoft Windows, and increasingly Google, that are less and less fit for the desktop (or laptop, or palmtop).
Many conversations eventually touch on computing in some form, giving us the opportunity to share the dependability, polish and familiarity of layout that Zorin provides right out of the box; how satisfying it is to have the old workhorse run like a colt again; how nice it feels to go straight to task on email, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, youtube how-to-sell-your-stamp-collection videos - all minus rude intrusions and mysterious delays. This is the year of the (Zorin) Linux desktop. It beckons users who know too well that computing today is not a luxury for the elite, it is not a mere hobby for the initiated, and it is certainly not optional to the daily existence of a huge number of us. Computing is a utility, just as water, heat and electricity are. It facilitates our transportation, shopping, communication, in fact nearly every aspect of life for many. It is essential.
How encouraging to inform folks that it is actually possible to have a relaxing experience with the keyboard & mouse, to view a screen without endless reminders, warnings, ads, etc., hearing music without fans spinning up to cool the cpu.
What a pleasant surprise that when starting up (or waking up) Zorin, there won't be the need to head to the kitchen for coffee while Windows boots, updates, runs an ill-timed Defender scan, loads unneccessary programs in the background. "Hmmm...is it finished yet? Looks like it" - click ...only to have the circle of madness appear, spinning and spining and spinning.
And so
"What's the catch?" ...no catch.
"How much does it cost?" ....$0 Just spread the word.
"Well it must be difficult to install?" ....
The year of the desktop has arrived - Zorin beckons.
Let's all continue to spread the word.
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I used to feel this way about Zorin OS. Until they sent your old colt and Zorin OS Lite to the knackers and told us we better upgrade and stick with Gnome.
Until Gnome became just like Microsoft, controlling what we do, how we do it and telling us what they determine we are not allowed to do on our own machines.
Until package management became a competitive nightmare of confusion, with the default installable applications refusing to even see the system it is supposed to operate with.
To me... Zorin OS is a stepping stone, now. It is a method that that enables a user to start a learning curve toward finding a distro that actually offers to revive that colt - and express freedom.
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Though I am enthusiastic about Zorin Linux, I am also sobered by the truth of your statements, @Aravisian.
If the goal is to bring Windows and Mac users to the Linux desktop, the way to encourage that is to make it attractive and to ease the transition. Zorin does this quite well.
But why the Gnomish path of narrowing choices and reducing configurability & customization? Why the removal of options, hiding advanced settings, and the pushing of a single packaging format or workflow onto everyone...I can appreciate the disillusionment and even resentment this engenders.
Zorin Linux could well become THE long term operating system for those who are satisfied with how well it fulfills their practical computing needs. I believe it will also provide an invaluable stepping stone for the many Windows/Mac refugees who will go on to appreciate GnuLinux in its multifaceted manifestations!
I think leaving Gnome-Software to default to Flatpak was also an error. It causes a great deal of frustration and confusion for new migrants from Windows OS.
Their expectation is to use the Store (Or Boutique) and it install a standard package that is stable and works.
Instead, they get an alternative package format that is cutting edge, often cannot communicate with the system without additional configuration, says it is one size but downloads a larger size; They ask about it, then get the speech about alternate packages - and get hit upside the head with opinionated negativity about these alternate packages. To them - things just quickly got complicated.
And, their first impressions are about political in-fighting in GnuLinux.
It has much greatness to offer. I am not always a mood-kill:
I am fair, though. The aim of windows OS migrants is to get away from what Microsoft is doing and a distro that promises to ease that transition should be as far from Microsoft behavior as possible.
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I am now unsure why I decided, 2days after replacing Windows with Zorin, to install the xfce desktop and follow a few videos on Youtube to make it look nice. I like it so much I have not logged into my Gnome DE more than 2x in the 3mths since, and then only briefly to check something.
Most people won't want to spend the 2 or 3 days it took me to get it working and looking how I wanted it to, and most won't even know it's an option. I like being a bit different and my desktop configuration is probably unique. Apart from wallpaper I've never had that before, but when I did the big switch, I didn't even know it was possible or that I would like to have it on my laptop. I saw the idea on the "show us your desktop" page and it just resonated with me.
I am still a bit pleased by what I have managed to do. Most of what I read on these pages is negative about Zorin Lite not being continued, not, hey look at what you can do with Zorin 18 right now. I came partly because it all looked very polished, and threw out the stuff that had been polished. A bit odd!
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This is interesting and you actually just touched on something...
The fact it is not polished. It merely looks that way... And everyone keeps calling it "polished."
Mostly. My post above does cover just that, but it is not a common post.
But the big deal is that defaults matter as you pointed out.
And also that by dropping XFCE, as a popular and loved distro - it sends a broader message that is powerful.
You can install XFCE today. Will you still be able to before long if distro's drop it?
It only exists due to support from entities like Zorin OS.
Take that away - and it will go away.
That matters.
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Er hem, Desktop Environment.
Also other lightweight DE's, Trinity (Q4OS - in both 32-bit and 64-bit, IceWM (Antix).
Other xfce distributions, Devuan, MX-Linux, Voyager, PCLOS, PCLOS Debian.
My expression was unclear.
To clarify:
As a popular and loved Distro, for Zorin OS to drop XFCE sends a message....
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