Bad omens for Zorin OS 12

First things first: Not blaming the Zorin development team for this.

My point is: have been watching / reading all kind of reviews about Ubuntu 16.04 and now recently about Mint 18 and ... can't deny it looks like a dark future considering Zorin will be based on Xenial Xerus : software center is buggier than ever and offers a really poor experience, the amount of problems with networking, the very fact that snap is there... but doesn't really matter considering MIR hasn't arrived yet so even if snap packages were one of those big news on this version... their real impact is zero.

Also, the amount of articles by all kind of users ( home users , bloggers, engineers that have Ubuntu at home for their wives/children ) reinforce the idea of "having the latest version is not really necessary" with plenty points of view to sustain their claim.

Bottom line is... Xenial Xerus didn't live up to expectations as far as i can see, and looks like a step backwards on so many fronts it's even frustating after previous LTS's ( at least, at some point in time ) .

Not sure if Zorin's development team will be able to iron out such a faulty base this time... looks like fighting a really wild dragon, not exactly easy.

Don't really know the current stage of development ... or even if we'll be surprised with a change of choice ( Debian for example ? ) , but given all what i'm seeing, all i can do is wish all of 'em the best , cross fingers... and thank all of 'em for each second of their time.

Zorin is the distro i love, the one i help to expand & install on other people pcs , and even shield it once in a while from the usual despective comments i find on certain linux communities ranting about the usual ... so will be looking forward to see how this one copes with everything... but as i said, this time looks like a major challenge to make it work smoothly from start :/ ... hoping for a miracle anyways

Hi, I can't say too much at this time but as I have said elsewhere, major releases take time, especially forks of a mainstream distribution, and also bear in mind the fact that Zorin comprises the two brothers plus two other developers - considerably less than the Canonical squad that produce Ubuntu - I think Canonical have been spending a lot of time pushing out the 'phone/tablet with 'mobile keyboard' and perhaps have lost focus on the core OS - they are attempting a big push on 'one OS for all devices' - much like Apple is attempting but I can't see a big demand for an Ubuntu watch!

Please be patient - Zorin no doubt will be akin to 1+ i.e., "Never Settle"

Swarfendor437 wrote:Hi, I can't say too much at this time but as I have said elsewhere, major releases take time, especially forks of a mainstream distribution, and also bear in mind the fact that Zorin comprises the two brothers plus two other developers - considerably less than the Canonical squad that produce Ubuntu - I think Canonical have been spending a lot of time pushing out the 'phone/tablet with 'mobile keyboard' and perhaps have lost focus on the core OS - they are attempting a big push on 'one OS for all devices' - much like Apple is attempting but I can't see a big demand for an Ubuntu watch!

Please be patient - Zorin no doubt will be akin to 1+ i.e., "Never Settle"

When one fails to communicate any thought... that's on him... and as such, this is the case.

Will try a more direct approach:

- Not blaming the Zorin development team about being slow nor "requesting" for things to be speed up ... nor anything remotely closer .
- Not even casting the less minimum shadow of doubt about the aforementioned dev-team .

This was simply a "song of my woes" about Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus , that looks to be the most disappointing LTS release after two more or less successful ones ( 12.04 and 14.04 ) .

Needless to say, i place the blame on Canonical if anything... ( although being fair, i'm not entitled to blame any open source project... just form an opinion about it at most ) ... and just feel kinda sad Zorin OS12 won't be as brilliant as previous LTS versions... simply because they can't fix everything on a distro that was released on such state ... and whatever they manage to improve will deserve the highest praise .

Well, Zorin 11 was certainly a wow factor for me and has saved my bacon at work recently - I never tried buntu 15.10 on which it is based but was mightily impressed that my all-in-one worked with simple scan where it wouldn't under Zorin 9 and whilst I was in the middle of adding the printer element I remembered I had not got the printer attached to the usb port at the back - as soon as I plugged it in the Printers module automatically found the correct driver!

Swarfendor437 wrote:Well, Zorin 11 was certainly a wow factor for me and has saved my bacon at work recently - I never tried buntu 15.10 on which it is based but was mightily impressed that my all-in-one worked with simple scan where it wouldn't under Zorin 9 and whilst I was in the middle of adding the printer element I remembered I had not got the printer attached to the usb port at the back - as soon as I plugged it in the Printers module automatically found the correct driver!

... and that's absolutely true ....for Ubuntu 15.10 ... that's why most distro reviewers had high hopes for Ubuntu 16.04... just to find out it was a quite inconsistent release ( quality-wise , based on the previous version ) ... full of noise ( snap packages are there "just because" ... doesn't make sense without MIR ; the little matter with ZFS ... ) on top of that, stepping backwards ( software center for example... not to mention the good impression of Ubuntu 15.10 ) ... and with a collection of bugs of its own ... many reviewers even wondered how they managed to ruin things when they were seemingly on the right path .

My two cents, for what it's worth: In waiting for Zorin 12 I became impatient. I decided to check out some other distros. I tried Elementary, just from the live DVD. Pretty cool, but not enough to install it. Then I tried Deepin. No live DVD, had to install, so I did. Very impressed. Extremely well-designed and easy to use. One really neat feature: you can change the boot menu from the control panel. You just check the OS you want, and bingo, you're done. Deepin is now based on Debian. It used to be Ubuntu. So, I have to agree, a Debian-based Zorin could be very intriguing.

mdiemer wrote:My two cents, for what it's worth: In waiting for Zorin 12 I became impatient. I decided to check out some other distros. I tried Elementary, just from the live DVD. Pretty cool, but not enough to install it. Then I tried Deepin. No live DVD, had to install, so I did. Very impressed. Extremely well-designed and easy to use. One really neat feature: you can change the boot menu from the control panel. You just check the OS you want, and bingo, you're done. Deepin is now based on Debian. It used to be Ubuntu. So, I have to agree, a Debian-based Zorin could be very intriguing.

Glad to read you catched my background question ... almost suggestion .

Think Deepin switching to Debian was the start of a new & brighter future . The latest update ( 15.2 ) included some kernel custom changes and "finally" fixed a huge amount of bugs ... making it arguably the most easy to use distro of nowadays. And as i said so many times ( elsewhere ) ... "it's so easy to use, it's boring ... you can even pick a background image for grub's screen by just drag&drop any picture... so fast, so simple... as anything there... plus a really nice & polished app store ( ubuntu's big flaw ) " .

I try other distros on a regular basis, love to see how things go on, and while i've had Deepin 15 installed since it was released on my ( 8-9 year old ) laptop ... my two main pc's ( the one's on my signature ) have had Zorin OS9 since it was released.

It's not just me using those computers at home, and Zorin always have been the perfect fit for my home environment ... so don't really plan on changing things on those two... my main question is... if i should switch to Zorin OS 12 as initially planned, or stick to Zorin OS9 ( why switch from something that just works , right ? ) ... for a while longer, see how Zorin OS12 turns out ... from distance... maybe even wait until Zorin OS 15 ( ?!?! ) .

Maybe i'm just being paranoid... maybe Zorin OS12 will turn out just right... but can't say i'm comfortable with the "signals on the air" Canonical emits nowadays ... i'm not into debating old stuff, not even interested on reviving old discussions about Canonical's POV and/or agenda ... but just checking the facts, once again, don't like the path they are taking, it's like they're pointing everybody to go somewhere else ( and Debian , precisely, looks to have all the potential in the world to be the new home for future "popular" forks ; granted, it'll take more work in the beginning ... so it's easy to just say it here ) ... and the future could even be shaped by what's coming ( Flatpack as opposed to Snap , Wayland ... if we ever see it soon ) ... who knows .


Oh well... guess i'm just ranting here . Sorry for that folks.

And needless to say, my most heartwarming thanks to the dev-team for all their time into Zorin OS12 . Will be, at the very least, checking it out as soon as it out... no rush, no worries .

What is interesting was an Internet TV program reviewing SolydXK know that has ex Mint Devs behind it is that it felt more Debian than Mint ever did. Even Ubuntu still uses parts of Debian in respect of package management - they just don't acknowledge it!

there will be some interesting releases,
all due out this season, but as already stated:
- it takes time for any Team to place their stamp on a new LTS.
just be patient - Zorin 12 will be worth the wait.

Pierre wrote:there will be some interesting releases,
all due out this season, but as already stated:
- it takes time for any Team to place their stamp on a new LTS.
just be patient - Zorin 12 will be worth the wait.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=11850#p53227

so is zorin project a life ? i have zorin 11

As stated by a forum member beta due out this weekend with final out 2-3 weeks later.