Although Zorin doesn’t aim to closely track its Ubuntu upstream, version 18 of its eponymous OS has been a long time coming.

The beta version of Zorin OS 18 arrives with some promising changes. Initially, the beta is of the “Core” edition, meaning that it uses a GNOME-based desktop and doesn’t include Zorin OS’s comprehensive application library. The company’s Artyom Zorin told us that an Xfce-based version will follow in time:

Zorin OS 18 is the version based on Ubuntu 24.04 “Noble Numbat,” which appeared nearly 18 months ago now, but Zorin takes a commendable “it’s ready when it’s ready and not before” attitude, which in today’s release-schedule-obsessed world we find rather refreshing. We looked at the current version 17.3 in April and it still works perfectly well – indeed, as we wrote in January, we’ve had to downgrade a couple of machines from Noble back to Jammy because of their non-upgradable, no-longer-supported Nvidia GPUs.

Zorin OS 18 sculpts GNOME 46 into something more familiar and Windows-like

The new version has tweaks in multiple areas, some aimed at helping Windows users migrate across, some for a fresher look, and some at improved functionality. Like its Ubuntu 24.04 upstream, the desktop is based around GNOME 46, but comprehensively modified with some carefully chosen extensions, including the Dash-to-panel extension the company sponsors.

Zorin OS 18’s taskbar has rounded corners and floats at the bottom of the screen, with a small gap between it and the edge of the monitor, which reminds us of nothing so much as the floating panel introduced with KDE Plasma 5.25. Ubuntu comes with a pre-installed GNOME Shell Tiling Assistant, but Zorin goes further with one based on Tiling Shell. This is modeled upon Windows’s Snap Assist – when dragging a window to a screen-edge, a pop-up helper appears with six pre-defined layouts including three columns, four quarters, two-thirds and one-third asymmetrical split, and more. It also offers thumbnails of candidate windows to tile alongside the one you’re moving.

Zorin OS 18 will helpfully try to automatically tile windows for you, making efficient layouts easier

One change we really liked in GNOME 45 was the new Activities Indicator, which is both a hotspot to click and a visual sign of which virtual desktop you’re on – and how many you’ve got. (It’s a lot more helpful than the old out-of-any-context word “Activities,” which it replaced.) Zorin transplants this indicator to the taskbar.

Zorin OS 18 will add more layouts to its in-house Zorin Appearance tool. This lets you switch between multiple desktop layouts resembling other OSs: different generations of Windows, as well as layouts that resemble macOS, classic GNOME, and more. The free versions of Zorin OS come with a few layouts, and one of the benefits of the paid-for Zorin OS Pro is multiple extra layouts. The tool works on the Xfce-based Zorin OS Lite as well, which is even more impressive – although in fairness, Xfce does have its own layout switcher called Panel Profiles. The forthcoming Pro edition will add layouts – and color schemes – to mimic Linux Mint’s Cinnamon, Elementary OS’s iPad-like layout, and a new “compact” layout to maximize available screen space.

Thanks to the Zorin Appearance app, if you want a centered taskbar and full-screen app browser à la GNOME, you got it

The beta announcement trails multiple other improvements: globally better performance, partly thanks to updated device drivers, full-text search in the file manager, better touchscreen and remote desktop handling, making the Zorin Menu aware of multiple monitors, lower-latency audio thanks to the new PipeWire media server, and more.

We are still not enthusiastic about the new web browser Zorin chose recently. Zorin OS 18 uses this to deliver improved Web App support, for which it credits the Linux Mint 20.1 feature of the same name. These are largely what Google promoted as Progressive Web Apps about a decade ago: a browser window, minus the usual web furniture (address bar, buttons, etc.), but handled by the OS as if it were a standalone app.

(Incidentally, you don’t need Brave, or even Chrome, for this. Linux Mint did it with Firefox, and the newly released Firefox 143 has web app support built in.)

For fresh emigres from Windows, this offers a significant benefit. A very clever feature in Zorin OS for a couple of years now is that it will detect if you attempt to download or install Windows installers, and tell you about native Linux alternatives. Microsoft offers free-to-use web versions of some of the core Office apps. As well as Linux apps, Zorin OS 18 will offer to run the matching web app instead.

Many of the performance and driver improvements are inherited from Ubuntu 24.04, the upstream distro upon which Zorin OS 18 is based – but not all, and many of the more conspicuous changes in the user interface are in the company’s own components.

The big enterprise Linux players have essentially given up on making money from the desktop. Both SUSE and Red Hat do still offer workstation editions, but they are very minimal compared to the free desktops: you get GNOME, a tiny collection of supported apps, and tech support. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is £117.60 ($158) with one year of updates, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation is $328.90 (£244) for the same period. ChromeOS Flex is free of charge, and works well with a free Gmail account.

Outside of the enterprise space, most desktop Linux distributions are also free. Desktop Ubuntu is free, but Canonical stopped trying to compete with the Red Hat-backed GNOME desktop stack some eight years ago.

It’s nearly a decade and a half since GNOME 3 first appeared, and to this vulture, it still feels like trying to drive a desktop PC via a smartphone UI. Despite many angry denials, The Reg FOSS desk still blames Microsoft.

The GNOME desktop is simple and it’s clean, and for those young enough not to have grown up with the traditional Windows desktop and memorizing hotkeys to get around quickly, it does enough. Nowadays, Canonical just tweaks it a little around the edges: a dock, desktop icons, and some less obvious enhancements to tiling and status indicators.

Linux Mint and Linux Lite both take the basic Ubuntu and reshape it into something that looks and feels more like traditional Windows. The newer Anduin OS does the same, but with a more Windows 11-like look and feel. They’re all good choices, and they’re all free.

Elementary OS does not try to ape Windows. Instead, it offers a more iPadOS-like look and feel, and the current version 8 starts moving the Pantheon desktop to Wayland. A new minor point release, version 8.0.2, appeared this month, with improved accessibility support. You can get it for free, but for a long time, Elementary has sustained itself by requesting donations – as Ubuntu did, long ago. For a suggested $20, Elementary OS does deliver one of the most polished experiences.

Zorin, though, goes further in its efforts to accommodate those used to Windows. There are free Core and Education editions, but the flagship Pro edition is $47.99, or £47.99, or €47.99. (We have to admire the old-fashioned Apple-style currency conversion the company uses: to change the currency, change the symbol.)

If you can afford that, it’s a good deal – the tech support for getting it installed will be helpful for many people. The Pro edition also comes with dozens of gigabytes of additional software in Flatpak format. It’s all FOSS, so you could find and add this yourself, but many a Linux newbie won’t know how to. It delivers vastly more functionality than SUSE or Red Hat offer. Red Hat doesn’t even package LibreOffice anymore.

If you don’t want to pay, then Zorin OS Core is the same OS, with the same GNOME customizations, just without all the extra software and with fewer desktop layouts. And, of course, no tech support.

In the Windows-like segment, we can’t think of any other company doing as much to make life easier for those moving across from Windows as Zorin. The new version has been a long time coming – the following Ubuntu LTS to Noble Numbat is expected in a little more than six months. The changes aren’t radical, but then, as we have written before, Linux is a mature OS now, and its hundreds of millions of lines of code hinder major innovation. Linux development now is more about fit and finish, improving polish and user-friendliness, and Zorin might be working harder on this than anyone else in this space. ®