Windows 10's demise could be Linux's gain if the flood of defectors is anything to go by

• Zorin OS, a Linux distro, has boasted about a flood of new recruits
• In two days after Windows 10 support ended, Zorin OS 18 saw 100,000 downloads
• Almost three-quarters of those were from Windows PCs, we're told

Some of the best Linux distros have been looking to capitalize on the end of support for Windows 10 with various initiatives or projects, and apparently one of them – Zorin OS – is going great guns following the End of Life of Microsoft's OS last week.

Neowin reports that the latest version of Zorin OS was launched on the same day that Windows 10 shuffled off its mortal codebase – October 14 – pitched as a "modern alternative that makes your computer feel brand new".

The developer of the Linux distro informed us on X that in just two days, Zorin OS 18 notched up 100,000 downloads, almost three-quarters of which (72%) were made on Windows systems, indicating that these were Windows 10 users migrating to the Linux OS.

Zorin Group also posted about a city in France, Échirolles, which has shifted some of the Windows 10 PCs in its town hall to free and open-source software which includes Zorin OS.

Analysis: fighting big tech on the desktop

Zorin Group bills this as a victory for alternative desktop platforms over the "incumbent operating systems from Big Tech", meaning Windows. However, when you look into the latter Linux transition in France, in actual fact only 10% of the town hall's PCs are running Zorin OS (or another distro), and much of the movement has been away from Microsoft's Office apps (to LibreOffice) rather than Windows.

At any rate, the official end of Windows 10 is certainly prompting some people and organizations to think about Linux as a genuine alternative, and a boost of something like 70,000 Windows 10 users in a couple of days is quite impressive to see for a relatively minor player in the desktop OS world like Zorin.

If you want to know more about Zorin, it's one of the better Linux choices for those coming from Microsoft's operating system, seeing as it's quite similar in design to Windows 11, as we explore in more detail in our hands-on Zorin 17 review. You might also want to consider some of the other recommendations we have for the best Windows-like Linux distros.

While switching to Linux could be a good alternative, particularly for users of older PCs that can't get near the system requirements for Windows 11, there are compromises involved in such a move. You may run into issues with hardware drivers, or software compatibility, and games could be especially problematic – for starters, lots of online PC games won't work due to their anti-cheat systems.

It's also worth noting that you don't have to abandon Windows 10 just yet – there's another choice in terms of taking up Microsoft's offer of extended support for an extra year of security updates. Yes, you are just putting off the decision of where to go next with your Windows 10 PC to next year, but if you need some breathing room the option is there (with a small catch, albeit that caveat doesn't apply to everyone).

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