This Linux OS has got a million downloads since Windows 10 support ended – should Microsoft start worrying now?

• Zorin OS has racked up a million downloads in the past month
• That's ever since Zorin OS 18 emerged on the same day Microsoft ceased support for Windows 10
• It appears to suggest a lot of Windows 10 defectors heading to this Linux distro, but we must be careful with the figures here

A critically-acclaimed flavor of Linux is apparently doing very well indeed in terms of attracting defectors from Microsoft's desktop ecosystem following the end of support for Windows 10.

Tom's Hardware spotted that the developer of Zorin OS has again been boasting about the number of downloads it has accrued, following version 18 of the Linux distro drumming up 100,000 downloads in just two days after its release.

However, that's now hit a million, as we're told in a blog post: "We're thrilled to announce that Zorin OS 18 has amassed 1 million downloads in just over a month since its release, breaking all previous records."

The developer of Zorin further points out that based on its data for these downloads, 78% of them are from Windows PCs, suggesting that a good deal of these people are migrants from Microsoft's OS to Linux.

So, in around five weeks, that's a million more Zorin OS recruits – or is it? Well, no, not exactly – and I'll discuss why next – but it's still an impressive number to have amassed in just over a month since Microsoft ceased providing official support for Windows 10.

Analysis: an impressive achievement – with some caveats

While Zorin OS may have had a million downloads since version 18 of the distro was released, on exactly the same day that Microsoft dropped official support for Windows 10, obviously that doesn't reflect a million Windows users fleeing to the Linux hills.

We're told that 78% of downloads originate from Windows PCs, so that's around 780,000 folks in theory – but just because Zorin OS was pulled from the internet on a Windows PC doesn't mean that a person is migrating from Windows to Linux on that computer. A person in this boat may have multiple PCs, for example, and they might be downloading on one machine to install on another (non-Windows system). Or they might be curious about Zorin, perhaps enough to download it, but not actually bothering installing the OS (or give it a quick whirl, and give up).

You get the point anyway: there are a number of potential reasons and scenarios for a download that don't necessarily translate into a new Zorin user going forward, or necessarily mean that a person is abandoning Windows just because the Linux distro was downloaded on a Microsoft PC.

Still, it's a fair bet that this does represent a hefty chunk of defectors from Windows 10 who don't want to upgrade to Windows 11 (or can't do so due to the steeper hardware requirements therein). Especially given that one of Zorin's strengths is that it's built to be friendly for such defectors, with a suitably Windows-like desktop environment. Note that we rate the 'Lite' version of Zorin as the top Linux distro for those with an older PC, and that may well represent a good number of these OS migrants.

How many might stick with Zorin going forward is another matter, perhaps, but for now, Zorin OS is making considerable hay after the sun has set on Windows 10. And that's despite extended support being available for Microsoft's OS, allowing for a further year of usage through to October 2026, it should be noted – and all this may give Microsoft something to worry about in that light.

Certainly if this kind of activity continues, and does so more broadly away from Zorin – it'll be interesting to see if we hear from other Linux distros with similar tales of bolstered ranks in the next couple of months.

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