Windows 10 died a few days ago, leaving users with three options: stick with the OS, upgrade to Windows 11, or switch to an entirely different platform like macOS or GNU/Linux. But months before Microsoft dropped support for the OS, Linux-focused companies were already campaigning to poach Microsoft customers and convert them into Linux users.
The Document Foundation, the folks behind LibreOffice, started its push as far back as June this year, criticizing Microsoft’s decision to end support, which would render millions of perfectly functional PCs obsolete, and presented Linux as a cost-effective and secure alternative. We have also seen initiatives like The “End of 10” Campaign by KDE, making the case for Linux and providing guides and info on how to switch.
Of all the projects trying to poach Windows users, Zorin Group might be the most aggressive, launching its biggest OS upgrade, Zorin OS 18, on the very day Windows 10 died.
In a recent post on X, Zorin Group celebrated the launch of version 18, claiming that it hit 100,000 downloads in “a little over 2 days”. The company called it its “biggest launch ever” and claimed that over 72% of those downloads came from Windows.
Zorin OS 18 just reached 100,000 downloads in a little over 2 days 🎉️
Over 72% of these downloads came from Windows, reflecting our mission to provide a better alternative to the incumbent operating systems from Big Tech.
Thank you for making this our biggest launch ever! pic.twitter.com/6U4h3EQ3dq
— Zorin OS (@ZorinOS) October 16, 2025
So what’s the big deal with Zorin OS 18? The new version comes with a redesigned desktop that feels a lot more modern. It uses a lighter color palette and a taskbar that has a floating, rounded style by default. The developers also introduced a much better window tiling system. If you drag a window to the top of the screen, a layout manager pops up, similar to Windows 11’s Snap Layouts. The main difference here is that Zorin allows you to create your own custom tiling layouts.
As for Windows app compatibility, Zorin OS 18 now includes an updated version of WINE 10 for better support of Windows software. On top of that, there’s also an expanded database that helps when it detects a Windows installer. The system checks the file and suggests the best way to run over 170 popular apps, whether that means installing a native Linux version, using the web-based alternative, or firing it up through WINE.
“Zorin Group” never heard of that. Seems to be a shop that just wants to lift along with the Windows 10 discontinuation tbh.
And if their selling point is running windows apps then they have no chance. You can’t get better at being windows than windows already is. You’ll always be one step behind the real thing.
And really you don’t need to, most linux apps are much better now that windows apps are more and more dumbed down. Look at the “new outlook” for example. It doesn’t even do local storage anymore, you must import all your email into the microsoft cloud overlord.
Microsoft isn’t offering support for it, but their help was barely useful to begin with.
There’s a few small hoops to jump through to enroll in the Extended Security Updates program, after which Windows 10 devices will continue to be functional and secure for at least another year.
Ultimately, I’m all for folks going out and dabbling in Linux. Unfortunately, most consumers are interpreting this situation as a requirement to rush out and buy a new Windows 11 PC and that’s bad.
It’s okay, Microsoft can’t hurt you here anymore. You have just been living your whole life in an abusive relationship. It’s okay we will be nice to you.
There are two massive hoops as far as I am concerned, no local account & ms office forcing the use of one drive. I know these arent that big of an issue for most people, but I will never do either of those things.
I’m not all too familiar with mass grave, but it does seem like a similar loophole to the win11 updates without TPM 2.0, in that it works but ms doesn’t want it to, so you may run into the issue of your system bricking or ms holding your data hostage. Also as far as I can decipher ltsc only fixes the security issue, as far as I am aware the one drive push is still there regardless of version.
All in all, I believe that there are workarounds, but if ms is so keen on making it this hard to stay on win 10 I would rather just take the adjustment period to a Linux distro.
IoT is Internet of Things, devices where you usually don’t know there is even Windows to begin with, due to some McDonalds Menu Picker overlay or whatever. There is no market for Microsoft acc or OneDrive as they are by themselves are rarely meddled with and are installed en masse. They would get security updates for 10 another years. But besides some differences, only corpos and no end user have a reasonable access to said release, so if you may be checked for legitimity of your software e.g. you try to use it in your business and get caught, it’s obvious you haven’t bought keys for it. So it’s for personal use only.
If just this one OS, that i havent even really heard of, hit 100k downloads in two days, then there must have been like 100M downloads in the last week or so for all linux distros combined. Now i wanna see someone try to aggregate all download numbers from the major distros into a time plot to see if there is a noticeable change.
I think you’ll be disappointed, the zorin boost is due to their marketing as Windows esque, I believe they just tell people how they are like windows. Extrapolating downloads for more linuxy distros from one that is supposed to be windows:Linux edition is not going to work out very well.
Windows 10 died a few days ago, leaving users with three options: stick with the OS, upgrade to Windows 11, or switch to an entirely different platform like macOS or GNU/Linux. But months before Microsoft dropped support for the OS, Linux-focused companies were already campaigning to poach Microsoft customers and convert them into Linux users.
The Document Foundation, the folks behind LibreOffice, started its push as far back as June this year, criticizing Microsoft’s decision to end support, which would render millions of perfectly functional PCs obsolete, and presented Linux as a cost-effective and secure alternative. We have also seen initiatives like The “End of 10” Campaign by KDE, making the case for Linux and providing guides and info on how to switch.
Of all the projects trying to poach Windows users, Zorin Group might be the most aggressive, launching its biggest OS upgrade, Zorin OS 18, on the very day Windows 10 died.
In a recent post on X, Zorin Group celebrated the launch of version 18, claiming that it hit 100,000 downloads in “a little over 2 days”. The company called it its “biggest launch ever” and claimed that over 72% of those downloads came from Windows.
So what’s the big deal with Zorin OS 18? The new version comes with a redesigned desktop that feels a lot more modern. It uses a lighter color palette and a taskbar that has a floating, rounded style by default. The developers also introduced a much better window tiling system. If you drag a window to the top of the screen, a layout manager pops up, similar to Windows 11’s Snap Layouts. The main difference here is that Zorin allows you to create your own custom tiling layouts.
As for Windows app compatibility, Zorin OS 18 now includes an updated version of WINE 10 for better support of Windows software. On top of that, there’s also an expanded database that helps when it detects a Windows installer. The system checks the file and suggests the best way to run over 170 popular apps, whether that means installing a native Linux version, using the web-based alternative, or firing it up through WINE.
“Zorin Group” never heard of that. Seems to be a shop that just wants to lift along with the Windows 10 discontinuation tbh.
And if their selling point is running windows apps then they have no chance. You can’t get better at being windows than windows already is. You’ll always be one step behind the real thing.
And really you don’t need to, most linux apps are much better now that windows apps are more and more dumbed down. Look at the “new outlook” for example. It doesn’t even do local storage anymore, you must import all your email into the microsoft cloud overlord.
Windows 10 didn’t “die”
Microsoft isn’t offering support for it, but their help was barely useful to begin with.
There’s a few small hoops to jump through to enroll in the Extended Security Updates program, after which Windows 10 devices will continue to be functional and secure for at least another year.
Ultimately, I’m all for folks going out and dabbling in Linux. Unfortunately, most consumers are interpreting this situation as a requirement to rush out and buy a new Windows 11 PC and that’s bad.
It’s okay, Microsoft can’t hurt you here anymore. You have just been living your whole life in an abusive relationship. It’s okay we will be nice to you.
There are two massive hoops as far as I am concerned, no local account & ms office forcing the use of one drive. I know these arent that big of an issue for most people, but I will never do either of those things.
?? I just use massgravel and I have win 10 ltsc iot updates for years now.
I’m not all too familiar with mass grave, but it does seem like a similar loophole to the win11 updates without TPM 2.0, in that it works but ms doesn’t want it to, so you may run into the issue of your system bricking or ms holding your data hostage. Also as far as I can decipher ltsc only fixes the security issue, as far as I am aware the one drive push is still there regardless of version.
All in all, I believe that there are workarounds, but if ms is so keen on making it this hard to stay on win 10 I would rather just take the adjustment period to a Linux distro.
IoT is Internet of Things, devices where you usually don’t know there is even Windows to begin with, due to some McDonalds Menu Picker overlay or whatever. There is no market for Microsoft acc or OneDrive as they are by themselves are rarely meddled with and are installed en masse. They would get security updates for 10 another years. But besides some differences, only corpos and no end user have a reasonable access to said release, so if you may be checked for legitimity of your software e.g. you try to use it in your business and get caught, it’s obvious you haven’t bought keys for it. So it’s for personal use only.
One big thing you are forgetting is that half these people aren’t even aware they even exist as people or know what real freedom is.
Did you think The Matrix was a documentary?
If just this one OS, that i havent even really heard of, hit 100k downloads in two days, then there must have been like 100M downloads in the last week or so for all linux distros combined. Now i wanna see someone try to aggregate all download numbers from the major distros into a time plot to see if there is a noticeable change.
I think you’ll be disappointed, the zorin boost is due to their marketing as Windows esque, I believe they just tell people how they are like windows. Extrapolating downloads for more linuxy distros from one that is supposed to be windows:Linux edition is not going to work out very well.
Yeah this is just a weird tangent that will die off.