Dear former Microsoft users, after Windows 7 (W7) officially discontinued early this year, how about looking at alternative operating system called Zorin OS? Zorin is computer operating system for everybody that is user-friendly and familiar. You can get Zorin gratis and free, you and your family can use without learning much, prepare to live peacefully without virus & antivirus, and you will be happy you can revive old computers with it. This article gives you sights on Zorin from perspective of a W7 user and see if you find it interesting. Enjoy Zorin!
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Keynotes
- Being economical
- Being fun
- Being secure
Being Economical
You can run your computer without Windows. With Zorin, particularly the Core Edition and Lite Edition, unlike W7, you do not need to pay for the software price (perhaps you call it "license cost") as both can be downloaded at no cost and no activation required. If you ask about legality, yes it is legal, as for your information Zorin is also copyrighted but unlike W7 it is licensed freely (unrestricted) for you. That's the secret. This is a good thing for individuals as well as schools for example to cut off monetary costs safely in their computing. Zorin helps you to empower unlimited number of computers you have for unlimited purposes with anybody you work along with. You can feel safe with Zorin for economical reasons.
This entails more benefits to you.
- As it requires no cost, it is easier to get.
- As it does not require activation, it is quicker to install.
- As it is free (unrestricted), you can share it with your friends.
(A brief overview depiction of Zorin OS)
Being Fun
You may be bored with Windows. Perhaps because of its viruses, or its slowness increases by day, or simply because you literally want a new thing. So try Zorin OS. It is very fun.
(Here is Zorin OS desktop appearance)
To give you bigger picture:
- #1 You can run computer (desktop PC) and laptop with Zorin just like W7.
- #2 You see many new things. Zorin and W7 are two different systems. You will start a new adventure and will not get bored again.
- #3 You can operate your computer with ZorinOS but without installing it first. So you are safe from accidental data deletion. This sounds unfamiliar perhaps, but it is real, this is technology called LiveCD.
- #4 You can operate your computer instantly without driver CDs. Unlike W7, Zorin does not required to install external drivers to get wifi, vga, usb, and bluetooth working.
- #5 You can give new life to old and broken computers. In many cases, some people failed to distinguish between broken computer and broken Windows --so there is big possibility the computer is still healthy--. When same computers tested with Zorin OS, you could wish they run pretty well once again.
- #6 You can help others! Yes, to help vision/hearing impaired people (as it comes with Accessibility Technology), to help people revive their computers (see #5), and to help your school and organization (see Further Reading section). All about this, of course thanks to it being Free Software you can share copies with them all!
Are you bored with your group of applications? Perhaps you get bored to Proprietary Software you usually see like Photoshop or Winamp. Perhaps you want to see diversity. Yes, with Zorin you will see diversity in software choices. There are more than 10,000 free software waiting for you at Zorin app store.
(Zorin app store offers you a new universe of applications)
Are you a teacher? Ever imagining a Windows special edition dedicated for teaching? It does not exist. But Zorin Education Edition exists. It is like what you imagined, an OS full with educational software and built-in classroom management. You can control what your students see and do from your computer. This means for everybody looking for Veyon (ITALC) distro for school they should see Zorin Education right now. As Zorin website said, it is 21st century learning, it can be new way of learning in your school. You can make good innovation for better future.
Did I say adventure? Yes, Zorin OS platform (GNU/Linux) successfully invited many people who were inexperienced in computer to learn interesting things about computer. Individually, for example, you will figure out outstandingly useful things like BitTorrent and IRC as they are more used in this platform. Socially, another example, you may find a community you would love and dedicate yourself to. Zorin has a crowded forum here. Not only that, if you see closer at Zorin's official website today, you will admire how short and simple yet powerful words they have for first-timers (even every page address is simple) while it is hard to find such magical explanations in other OSes. I can see that the team really wants Zorin to be easy for new comers. This will encourage you to learn more about it.
Do you want to purchase a computer with Zorin preinstalled? See https://zorinos.com/computers. Just like you did with Windows, now you can buy a Zorin laptop produced by StarLabs Computer Company (based on U.K. shipping worldwide) that works hand in hand with Zorin team. Interestingly, if in any chance you are a computer manufacturer, Zorin offers partnership you can read here.
(Zorin Laptops)
Being Secure
With Zorin you can feel how is to live safely without worrying about virus, antivirus, and OS spying against its own user. These feelings of security is important to many people.
(Work peacefully and make antivirus a thing of the past)
You may experienced bad things like virus and ransomware on Windows. On Zorin you do not experience that. As a good consequence, you also do not need antivirus. And you do not worry of data being ransom unlike recent cases with Windows' Cryptolocker ransomware. All Zorin users do not install Kaspersky or Norton, for example. I believe you will find this wonderful. If this is a news for you, keep reading.
You may have heard that W7 itself has been proven as malware. Malware means all kinds of virus, spyware, and other evil software which created to mistreat user. More shocking, since 2013 people worrying that Microsoft uses Windows to secretly spy over the users to collect giant human data for U.S. Government. You do not want this, don't you? Yes, I also do not want it. The secret here is, this is the tendency of all Proprietary Software these days. So, with Windows not only you were dealing with virus & spyware from the outside, your operating system itself was malware. Fortunately, Zorin is safe and secure.
Want Zorin?
- Where to download Zorin? Go to https://zorinos.com.
- What editions available? There are Core, Lite, Education, and Ultimate. For your first time, try Core edition.
- What are the system requirements? See https://zorinos.com/help/system-requirements. Basically all editions support 64-bit, but only Lite Edition includes 32-bit type also. Lite is the most lightweight edition.
- Is there paid edition? Yes, the Ultimate is a paid edition. See explanation here.
- How to install Zorin? See official installation guide.
That's all and welcome to your new community!
Further Readings
- About- excellent explanation of Zorin the OS and the organization including Donation page and where to get Zorin's Source Code.
- Zorin OS 15 is Here - announcement of version 15.
- Lite 15 is Here - Breathe New Life into Your Old Computers - announcement of Lite Edition of version 15.
- Introducing Zorin Grid - new technology coming called Grid to control all your computers as one.
- Zorin Computers - initial announcement of Zorin computers.
- Switch your organization to Zorin - official guide to migrate your schools or office to Zorin OS.
- Launchpad and GitHub - places where the making of Zorin OS happen.
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.