Recently my two favorite Linux distros had major releases. Linux Mint released Linux Mint 13 and Zorin OS released a release candidate of Zorin OS Core 6. Both are based on Ubuntu 12.04. Again I refuse to use the stupid animal names that Ubuntu gives their releases.
If you were one of the people, like me, who gave up on Linux Mint 12 because of the controversial Gnome 3 desktop have no fear. Linux Mint 13 comes with the MATE desktop by default. For those of you who may not know MATE is a fork of Gnome 2. I wasn’t a big fan of MATE when it first came out but it has matured since the release of Mint 12 and now, in my opinion, it is a fully functioning desktop. Not only that but I think it also restores Mint to its former glory. Mint 13 also has a Cinnamon desktop version of 13 but Cinnamon is just Gnome 3 lite. Linux Mint 13 get’s the Trench Reynolds seal of approval. *bark bark*
Now to me, Zorin OS 5 Core is the pinnacle of not only Linux distros but OSes in general. So I was more than a little hesitant when Zorin said this in the release statement of OS 6 Core RC…
Zorin Desktop embraces all of the latest and greatest of Open Source software and technologies such as Gtk3 and other software from the GNOME 3 software stack.
After installing OS 6 Core RC I was a little disappointed. This wasn’t the perfect distro I had come to know and love. Instead of the awesome desktop panel that Zorin used in 5, they had a dock instead. While customizable it wasn’t customizable to the degree I wish it would be. That’s not to say it’s a bad distro. Zorin’s main goal is to convert Windows 7 users by giving them a Windows 7 experience in Linux. I actually think with this new dock it succeeds more in that vein than it did in OS 5. However, the dock and the Gnome 3 back-end just weren’t for me.
Zorin OS Core 5 still reigns supreme in my heart and on my main computer.
The Trench Reynolds Report 