# Zorin OS for free or not?



## Gorstak (Nov 5, 2018)

Yesterday I googled Zorin OS and came to a page that asked for 19 EUR for it. But my other google results showed sourceforge, and I downloaded, and installed from that iso free of charge. Currently no serial key is being asked from me inside the OS itself. So, did I do something bad, or what's the deal here?


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## sepheronx (Nov 5, 2018)

You are looking at Zorin ultimate.

 Core essentials is free or you can give a donation


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## Gorstak (Nov 5, 2018)

I beleive all version are free to download on sourceforge. I downloaded lite, x86


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## sepheronx (Nov 5, 2018)

Dunno why you are asking then if you are certain.

As I said, look at their main website.  Ultimate states 20 Euro's.

https://zorinos.com/download/

If you can get the full Ultimate for free on Sourceforge, then woohoo.  Otherwise, sounds like it is just standard edition you are downloading.

Sourceforge isn't illegal and is go to place for open source.  So if they have ultimate on there for free, then it is safe to assume that you are paying not for a license but essentially a forced donation from their website for it.

Edit: What I can see is that Zorin OS on other sites are also the Core edition.  Ultimate being hosted free mentioned in comments section of sourceforge with someone mentioning name but not URL, to make it sound like real bad advertisement.


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## johnspack (Nov 19, 2018)

Ultimate is a paid version.  Go get Linux Mint instead.  Pretty much the same.  Linux should always be free for desktop usage.  Always be wary of versions that ask for money.


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## Gorstak (Nov 19, 2018)

Took me about 8 hours to get rid of Zorin OS. Couldn't figure out how to fry windows. Finally I stumbled upon this, app called WoeUSB which solved the issue.


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## damian246 (Nov 29, 2018)

For people wanting to have a deluxe jejeje 

Quite sure a few will take a paid version.


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## thenightsky_0102 (Nov 29, 2018)

I recognize your profile pic  I'm more of a Fred type of guy, but that's just me...

Anyways, you went to their site and probably saw the "pay what you want" page which they had... The OS is free and their ISO's are hosted on SourceForge. From version 5 to 12.

I highly recommend you always use the Lite edition. The "Core" edition isn't good IMO. It's very resource-hungry (GNOME-based) and the explorer crashes constantly!

The Lite edition is brilliant. It's XFCE-based and is just so well done... Very nice. I love it!

The "Ultimate" and "Business" editions aren't worth it to me at all. The only reason why I say this is they loaded those ISO's with many applications. It's pointless. Tons of apps which all do the same thing. It's close to 4 GB (I've bought 12 Ultimate and Lite Ultimate in the past). The only justification I have for buying those is if you're a new user and want to try out the various different programs which all do the same thing and want to find the one which works best for you.


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## aybarrap1 (Dec 30, 2018)

Gorstak said:


> Yesterday I googled Zorin OS and came to a page that asked for 19 EUR for it. But my other google results showed sourceforge, and I downloaded, and installed from that iso free of charge. Currently no serial key is being asked from me inside the OS itself. So, did I do something bad, or what's the deal here?


There are 2 versions: Ultimate and Core. Ultimate includes more apps pre installed but the reason you are paying is for the ability to get direct support from Zorin (and I believe they also include more theme components). All the extra installed apps, except for the additional themes, you can pretty much get from the software store. Zorin has a comparison chart that shows the additional software on Ultimate compared to core in bold.


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## GoldenX (Dec 30, 2018)

...Why pay for Debian with a skin? Am I missing something?


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## thenightsky_0102 (Dec 30, 2018)

It isn't Debian-based though. It's based on the Ubuntu LTS releases. The only ones I think are worth using would be the Lite editions. They're fast and are XFCE-based. They don't have the same crashing issues that the horrible GNOME-based version does!


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## Aquinus (Dec 30, 2018)

thenightsky_0102 said:


> It isn't Debian-based though. It's based on the Ubuntu LTS releases.


Ubuntu is based off Debian, bub.


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## GoldenX (Dec 30, 2018)

thenightsky_0102 said:


> It isn't Debian-based though. It's based on the Ubuntu LTS releases. The only ones I think are worth using would be the Lite editions. They're fast and are XFCE-based. They don't have the same crashing issues that the horrible GNOME-based version does!


What does it offer over Xubuntu or Debian with XFCE?


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 31, 2018)

GoldenX said:


> What does it offer over Xubuntu or Debian with XFCE?


The paid versions have a level of tech support. Beyond that, not much..


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## newtekie1 (Dec 31, 2018)

Gorstak said:


> I beleive all version are free to download on sourceforge. I downloaded lite, x86



The Ultimate version is not available through Sourceforge. Only the Core, Lite, and Educational versions are available through Sourceforce.


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