14 DAY TRIAL // Today, September 19, 2016, the developers of the Zorin OS Linux operating system designed specifically for Windows users who want to migrate to an open source and free OS on their PCs announced the release of Zorin OS 12 Beta.
What's Zorin OS 12 Beta? It is the first development release towards the next major version of the Ubuntu-based distribution, allowing early adopters and public beta testers to get a taste of what's coming to Zorin OS 12 later this year. When Zorin OS 12 will be released is still a mystery for now, but we know what features it will bring.
Let's start with the new Zorin Desktop 2.0 environment, which still uses the GNOME Shell graphical interface from the GNOME Stack, but offers Linux newcomers a more attractive and familiar UI that's quite similar to the Windows 10 desktop. New features include activities overview, universal search, notifications, and better display support.
"This is a pre-release version which we have created to get your feedback & bug reports on what we’ve built so far," reads today's announcement. "Zorin OS 12 is the biggest new release in the history of Zorin OS. With this new version, we’ve introduced an entirely new desktop experience that will make your computer more useful, more powerful and more enjoyable to use."
New, faster Software Store app
Among other goodies coming to Zorin OS 12 later this year, we can mention a new, faster Software Store app to let users install and update their favorite applications much more easily than before, Chromium as the default web browser, and a new Zorin Appearance tool that merges the old Zorin Look Changer and Zorin Theme Changer utilities.
Ultimately, Zorin OS 12 comes with Google integration by default, allowing users to easily browse their Google Drive files or view images stored on their Google Photos account. Under the hood, Zorin OS 12 is based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and ships with Linux kernel 4.4 LTS.
Download Zorin OS 12 Beta right now via our website and take the distro for a test drive. In related news, the Zorin OS team informs the community that Zorin OS 12 will be a long-term support (LTS) version that will receive security and software updates until April 2021, and new major versions will be released every two years after Zorin OS 12.
