WEBVTT

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If Windows 10 is the apartment you like, but

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your landlord just shut off security and maintenance,

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Zorin OS might be the new place across town with

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cheaper rent and better locks. The catch is you

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have to move all your stuff, maybe lose a few

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weird applications, and learn where all the light

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switches are. In this episode, we're going to

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figure out whether that move is actually worth

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it for you. your older hardware, and yes, even

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your gaming rig. Welcome back to the Tyler Woodward

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Project. I'm Tyler, a broadcast engineer by trade,

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a Linux nerd by choice, and I enjoy the mystifying

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tech that's supposedly too complicated for everyday

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people. Today, we're talking about life after

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Windows 10. And yeah, I know Windows 10 officially

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ended support on October 14th, 2025, which means

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no more free security updates or bug fixes for

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most people. Microsoft would very much like you

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to buy or build a Windows 11 capable machine

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or pay for extended security updates if you're

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a business. And, well, a lot of people are not

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thrilled with that plan. At the same time, Zorin

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OS, this little Linux distro designed to feel

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familiar to Windows users, just passed a million

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downloads for Zorin OS 18, with a big chunk of

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that coming from ex Windows 10 users. So in this

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episode, first, I'm going to look at what Zorin

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OS actually is and how it lines up against Windows

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10 and Windows 11 on paper. Second, we're going

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to walk through some real world style stories,

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older home laptops, small business desktops,

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and maybe some of your gaming rigs. Finally,

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we'll wrap it up with a practical takeaway. How

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to test drive Zorin safely, what to check before

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switching, and when you should absolutely keep

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at least one Windows box alive. Let's start with

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what changed when Windows 10 ran out of road

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and why. Well, Zorin OS is suddenly in the spotlight.

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Let's get into it. Windows 10's end of support

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is a security and maintenance problem more than

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just your PC stops booting kind of problem. Security

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patches, feature updates and most mainstream

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support ended back in October of 2025. leaving

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home users exposed as new vulnerabilities show

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up over time. There is the extended security

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updates program, but it's targeted at organizations

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and cost money per device. Turning Windows 10

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into a subscription -flavored product if you

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want to stay connected, that just doesn't sit

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well with me. Combine that with Windows 11's

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relatively strict CPU and TPM requirements and

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a lot of perfectly usable machines suddenly look

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obsolete on paper. We don't need more e -waste

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out there. Zorin OS is a Linux distribution built

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on Ubuntu LTS, which means long term security,

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with version 18 based on specifically Ubuntu

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24 .04 and a modern 6 .14 kernel. That means

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under the hood you get long -term support into

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2029, plus up -to -date drivers for relatively

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new Intel and AMD hardware, Wi -Fi cards, and

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NVMe SSDs. The headline pitch is simple. Make

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your computer better, especially if it's a Windows

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machine that Microsoft would rather you dump

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in the trash. The desktop is themed, laid out

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to look very, very familiar to Windows users,

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and the Pro Edition even ships with layouts that

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mimic Windows 10 and Windows 11 more closely.

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Zorin OS's published requirements are modest,

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too. A 64 -bit dual -core CPU. Check. Around

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2 gigs of RAM. Cool. And roughly 15 to 20 gigs

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of hard drive space. That doesn't sound too bad,

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right? Compare that to Windows 11, which wants

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newer CPUs and TPM 2 .0 and generally feels happier

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with 8 gigs or more of RAM and reasonably current

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GPU for smooth performance. And we know with

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the RAM prices going up, that's going to be a

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little harder to come by. 8 gigs for the minimum?

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Yeah, not so much. So many older Windows 10 boxes,

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think 8 to 10 year old laptops with spinning

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disc or even early generation SSDs, Zorin OS

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will simply feel more responsive for browsing,

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office work and light media consumption than

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Windows 10 did at the end of its life. The Linux

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kernel's improved scheduler and the lighter desktop

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environment together shave off some of the Windows

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rot feeling where the OS seems to get slower

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over the years. You know what I'm talking about.

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Out of the box, Zorin drops you into a menu and

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taskbar layout that feels like a modernized Windows

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desktop with a start menu style type launcher

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in a system tray area. You can switch between

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different layouts as well. Window -ish, Mac OS

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-ish, and more traditional Linux, especially

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in the Pro edition, without reinstalling. You

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get a software center, that handles app installs

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with a click to install simplicity, pulling from

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Ubuntu's repositories. Flatpak and sometimes,

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yeah, those snap packages do, depending on how

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you configure it. Browser, email, office suite

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and media tools are already out of the box, ready

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to go. Right there, already pre -installed for

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you with Firefox or Chromium, LibreOffice and

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common codecs available or installable. in just

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a couple of clicks. Zorin OS also pushes a web

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apps feature where you can turn any website,

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let's say like Outlook Web or Google Docs or

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Slack into a pseudo native app with its own icon

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and window. For a lot of people who live in SaaS

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tools, it makes the underlying OS matter a whole

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lot less day to day. Now, Yeah, the big question.

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Can I just run my Windows applications? Zoron

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OS integrates Wine and makes it relatively painless.

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You know, you double click a executable, it offers

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to install Windows app support, and then tries

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to run the installer or program just like it

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would under Windows. Simple utilities, older

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apps, and maybe some games will run surprisingly

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well in this way. But... Anything large, modern

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and complex like the full fat Microsoft office

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suite or Adobe's creative suite or any proprietary

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business apps, you know, probably forget about

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it because they'll be unreliable or possibly

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just broken. Maybe you'll get lucky. I don't

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know. Compatibility depends on Wines implementation,

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how the app is built and sometimes just really

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sheer luck. This is not a drop in replacement

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story. and people should really plan on that

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if you're going to switch to Zorin OS. If a radio

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or TV facility asked whether to move Windows

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10 office and edit workstations over to Zorin

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OS, the first thing that I would check would

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be what's the anchoring software, broadcast automation,

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play out systems, and maybe some vendor locked

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audio tools are often Windows only with zero

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Linux support. So the decision is usually dictated

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by the proprietary stack, not by how nice DOS

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feels. Although I wish that wasn't the case.

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Because it's based on Ubuntu LTS, Zorin inherits

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a known security and update model. Kernel and

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package updates come via the usual Linux repositories

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for years, not months. Unlike frozen Windows

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10 installs a Zorin machine in 2027, will still

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be getting current patches or the OS and most

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bundled software. You also dodged that ad -styled

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nag that Microsoft has become known for. Windows

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11 upgrades are pre -installed suggested apps,

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which many people find increasingly distracting

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on Windows. Updates are more under your control

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and you can delay or stage them without wrestling

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with forced reboots in the middle of your workday.

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Picture a 2014 to let's say 2016 era laptop,

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dual core CPU, maybe four to eight gigs of RAM,

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maybe an older SSD or even God forbid is still,

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you know, one of those spinning hard drives.

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Windows 11 is off the table immediately. officially,

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because due to the lack of CPU and TPM requirements

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that you need. And Windows 10 is out of support

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unless you pay for the ESU, which home users,

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they're not going to do that. Drop Zorin OS 18

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on that hardware and you get yourself a clean,

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modern desktop, current browser and up -to -date

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office tools without the drag of running an OS

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that's out of support. and user reports describe

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these machines feeling like brand new machines,

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especially when combined with an SSD upgrade

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if they're still on those older mechanical hard

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disk drives. For families or individuals doing

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web surfing, streaming, email, document work,

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and photo management, Zorin OS is very, very

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close to a set it and forget it experience once

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it's installed. The main caveats are Older printers

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or scanners that only have Windows drivers or

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some oddball utility like manufacturer backup

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tools that don't have Linux versions. Small businesses

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face a slightly different problem though. Compliance,

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data security and cost. Running fleets of out

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of support Windows 10 machines opens you up to

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all sorts of risk and paying per device for that

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ESU for years? That's going to add up pretty

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quickly. Zorin OS can make sense for roles that

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mostly live in the browser. Accounting platforms,

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web -based CRM systems, ticketing systems, and

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email. They all work just fine on a Linux desktop.

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The Ubuntu Plus Zorin stack is stable enough

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that you can lock in a base image and not change

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much for several years maybe. which simplifies

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your IT management. The hard blocker is Windows

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-only line of business apps that require specific

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versions of Office or integrate tightly with

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the Windows API. In those cases, you keep a few

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Windows 11 or ESU protected Windows 10 boxes

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as a sort of app island, while moving generic

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roles like reception, web -only work, and basic

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Office tasks over the XOR and OS. from a cost

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perspective not having to replace every single

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computer that fails Windows 11's absurd compatibility

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check and save a lot of hardware budget over

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the next three to five year cycle. It also sidesteps

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the waste of dumping machines that are perfectly

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fine for typical office workloads. Let's reduce

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the e -waste at the same time, you know? Why

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not? Seems like a no -brainer to me. Gaming is

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where this whole setup is going to get a little

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spicier. On the plus side, modern Linux gaming

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via Steam's Proton compatibility layer and the

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general maturity of drivers is a vastly better

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experience than it was even just five years ago.

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Zorin OS benefits from the same underlying tech

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as other mainstream distros, recent kernels up

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to date. Meza and support for AMD and Nvidia

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GPUs. With most, if not majority of AAA titles

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at least functioning through Proton. For single

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player games and many online titles that played

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nicely with Proton and Anti -Cheat, you can have

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a perfectly enjoyable experience on Zorin OS.

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But for cutting edge AAA titles, Competitive

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multiplayer with invasive anti -cheat and GPU

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control panels that expect Windows? Native Windows?

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Well, that one unfortunately is still going to

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have the edge over Zorin or any Linux distro.

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You'll hit the occasional launcher that refuses

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to run or a game that should work, but breaks

00:14:05.889 --> 00:14:08.690
after an update until Proton catches up with

00:14:08.690 --> 00:14:12.710
it. For serious gamers, the most practical setup

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is often dual boot, Zorin OS for everyday stuff,

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like the browsing and maybe work in Windows 11

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on a separate partition or a drive dedicated

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to gaming. That way your gaming performance and

00:14:26.230 --> 00:14:29.190
compatibility stays high but your main OS isn't

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chained to Windows 11's hardware requirements

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or Windows 10's end -of -life support. Zorin

00:14:36.909 --> 00:14:40.789
OS 18 racking up over a million downloads in

00:14:40.789 --> 00:14:44.769
a short window is not just a vanity statistic.

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It signals that non -trivial number of Windows

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10 users are actively choosing Linux over Microsoft.

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Reports suggest several hundred thousand of those

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downloads were specifically from Windows 10 users

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looking for an alternative around the end of

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support dates. That doesn't prove Zorin is perfect,

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but it does tell you that you're not alone if

00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:15.230
you're thinking, well... Maybe I don't want to

00:15:15.230 --> 00:15:19.370
follow Microsoft to Windows 11 on these terms.

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It also means that their community and the ecosystem

00:15:25.529 --> 00:15:28.830
are likely to keep growing, which helps with

00:15:28.830 --> 00:15:31.350
documentation, troubleshooting, and third -party

00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:39.230
attention. Here's the low -risk way to kick the

00:15:39.230 --> 00:15:42.710
tires, if you will, of Zorin OS without nuking

00:15:42.710 --> 00:15:47.129
your Windows install. First, download the Zorin

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OS ISO from the official website and create a

00:15:50.169 --> 00:15:54.149
bootable USB using a tool like Rufus on Windows.

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Then, boot your machine from that USB and choose

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Try Zorin OS option. It'll run live. It'll run

00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:06.330
in a live session from the USB stick without

00:16:06.330 --> 00:16:10.230
touching your disk. And in that live environment,

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you can check Is your Wi -Fi and Ethernet compatible?

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Do they work? Do they connect reliably? Your

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display. Are the native resolutions and multiple

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monitors detected? Can you adjust things? Can

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you move it? Can you get the refresh rates that

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you want? And another one is audio. Do your speakers,

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your headphones and microphones, do they all

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show up and work? Peripherals like your printers,

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your scanners, your webcams and any odd controllers.

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Test them all. Make sure they work. If everything

00:16:41.740 --> 00:16:45.940
looks good and you want to proceed to install

00:16:45.940 --> 00:16:49.179
Zorin either as the only OS or alongside Windows

00:16:49.179 --> 00:16:52.279
in a dual boot configuration, you can do it as

00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:55.039
long as you've backed up your data first. We'll

00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:57.799
talk about that in a different episode. The installer

00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:02.059
will generally detect Windows and offer the option

00:17:02.059 --> 00:17:05.839
to install alongside your Windows partition.

00:17:06.539 --> 00:17:09.240
But it's still worth double -checking the partition

00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:12.480
layout before you click OK Because if you do

00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:15.920
anything wrong, it'll nuke it it'll happily override

00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:19.180
it but a lot of these newer installers on Linux

00:17:19.180 --> 00:17:22.980
will Warn you at least once or twice before it'll

00:17:22.980 --> 00:17:25.420
proceed writing over any important data. So make

00:17:25.420 --> 00:17:28.799
sure you read the prompts Clearly and understand

00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:31.720
what you're doing before you hit apply go. Okay,

00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:34.859
whatever whatever an option comes up, you know

00:17:34.859 --> 00:17:39.319
Zorin OS It's a strong candidate if Your main

00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:42.640
workloads are more web -based email office docs

00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:47.279
and media your hardware is Blocked from Windows

00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:49.680
11, but still fast enough especially with an

00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:52.799
SSD and you're willing to learn a slightly different

00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:56.539
way to install apps and manage updates I mean

00:17:56.539 --> 00:17:59.359
if you've ever transferred from Mac to Windows

00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:02.160
or Windows to Mac you had to learn new things

00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:06.329
Anyways, this is no different. It's also You

00:18:06.329 --> 00:18:09.210
know, appealing if you're tired of ads, prompts,

00:18:09.369 --> 00:18:12.029
and nag screens on Windows and you want a quieter,

00:18:12.089 --> 00:18:15.470
more controlled environment. That's what I like

00:18:15.470 --> 00:18:19.490
about it. For small businesses that mostly live

00:18:19.490 --> 00:18:22.049
in web browsers, it can extend a usable life

00:18:22.049 --> 00:18:26.309
of a PC by several years while staying on a supported,

00:18:26.309 --> 00:18:32.619
patched platform. You should absolutely keep

00:18:32.619 --> 00:18:35.980
at least one Windows box around if you rely on

00:18:35.980 --> 00:18:38.680
Windows only professional apps. We're talking

00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:42.920
about the Adobe CC full Microsoft Office integration

00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:46.579
or niche vendor software that doesn't support

00:18:46.579 --> 00:18:50.619
Linux yet. Maybe another reason is you're a competitive

00:18:50.619 --> 00:18:53.740
gamer and need the maximum compatibility with

00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:57.039
anti -cheat and new titles on day one or your

00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:00.210
organization is tied to Windows. Windows -centric

00:19:00.210 --> 00:19:03.289
management tools like group policy or specific

00:19:03.289 --> 00:19:07.529
security agents. In those cases, consider dual

00:19:07.529 --> 00:19:10.609
boot or offloading some roles to Zorin while

00:19:10.609 --> 00:19:15.529
keeping Windows as the anchor OS for critical

00:19:15.529 --> 00:19:20.609
workloads. Think of Zorin as a way to reclaim

00:19:20.609 --> 00:19:23.170
older hardware and reduce your Windows surface

00:19:23.170 --> 00:19:26.309
area, not necessarily eliminate it overnight.

00:19:29.230 --> 00:19:34.710
If you're on Windows 10 today, ask three questions.

00:19:35.670 --> 00:19:38.069
Number one, does the machine need specific Windows

00:19:38.069 --> 00:19:42.269
only software or is it mostly browser and basic

00:19:42.269 --> 00:19:45.490
tools? Number two, am I okay learning a slightly

00:19:45.490 --> 00:19:49.009
different OS if it buys me more years of updates

00:19:49.009 --> 00:19:52.910
on my current hardware? And number three, do

00:19:52.910 --> 00:19:55.849
I have a plan for gaming or specialized workflows,

00:19:56.670 --> 00:19:59.740
dual boot, an anchor machine or cloud access.

00:20:00.579 --> 00:20:04.539
If the answers line up in favor of flexibility

00:20:04.539 --> 00:20:08.380
and browser -centric work, Zorin is a genuinely

00:20:08.380 --> 00:20:11.740
solid next step for you. If you're deeply embedded

00:20:11.740 --> 00:20:17.720
in Windows -only ecosystems or eSport trade gaming,

00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:21.319
you might treat Zorin as a secondary OS, rather

00:20:21.319 --> 00:20:28.059
than making it your primary. Is Zorin OS the

00:20:28.059 --> 00:20:31.380
new apartment for Windows 10 users? For a lot

00:20:31.380 --> 00:20:34.940
of machines? And a lot of people? I think the

00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:37.859
answer is yes. As long as you're honest about

00:20:37.859 --> 00:20:41.579
what you actually want to run and what you're

00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:45.680
willing to adapt to. That Windows 10 notice might

00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:48.680
feel like the end of the road. But it's really

00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:52.839
just Microsoft's end of the road. Zorin OS gives

00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:55.700
you another path forward. Keep your hardware,

00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:58.140
stay supported, and reduce the amount of windows

00:20:58.140 --> 00:21:03.319
you have to manage day to day. If you spin up

00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:05.880
a live USB and try this, treat it like a lab.

00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:08.740
Poke at your apps, test your peripherals, your

00:21:08.740 --> 00:21:10.819
keyboards, your mouse, your webcams, all that

00:21:10.819 --> 00:21:15.220
stuff, and see whether the friction points are

00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:18.140
tolerable for you. The difference between a great

00:21:18.140 --> 00:21:20.920
migration and a frustrating one is usually just

00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:26.730
expectations. preparation. If this episode helped

00:21:26.730 --> 00:21:29.190
you think differently about your post Windows

00:21:29.190 --> 00:21:32.549
10 options, there's more like this on the way.

00:21:32.950 --> 00:21:35.410
Visit TylerWoodward .me, follow at TylerWoodward

00:21:35.410 --> 00:21:38.650
.me on Instagram and threads, subscribe and like

00:21:38.650 --> 00:21:42.130
the show on your favorite podcast platform. I'll

00:21:42.130 --> 00:21:42.930
catch you next week.