First of all, Welcome to Linuxquestions.

I have never used Zorin but I did read a review of it. It has a desktop GUI which is laid out to look like Windows 7 which is Microsoft's effort to roll the Vista disaster back to XP.

Pretty much any Linux distribution is easy to use as long as you accept all of the distribution's defaults. Once you have mastered the default configuration then you can start experimenting with the huge variety of possible configurations for a Linux system. That experimentation has a learning curve. The final configuration that you eventually reach can probably be reached by configuring any of the main Linux distributions. Your reason for choosing Zorin is that its default configuration is very close to what you are already familiar with so that is a good choice.

Zorin uses the Debian package manager called apt-get which has a GUI interface called synaptic. apt-get is a world class package manager but learning to use apt-get is not trivial. Before you use it I suggest that you find an online tutorial on how to use the Zorin package manager.

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Steve Stites

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Hello and nice of you to put it in big font.

Up to speed is a moving target.

One can use modern linux without knowing too much of the nuts and bolts.

One of the many features many distributions tend to offer include an easy start for their target users and support for the target machines. They tend to make it easy to add in software and update your system.

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Willingness to learn is (in my opinion) the first and most important part of becoming a Linux user. Yes, Linux is different than Windows. That's what makes it better.

I agree with Jefro that you don't need to know how everything fits together to use it. However, once you get used to it, I would HIGHLY suggest looking deeper into the system. (aka open up the terminal, and start doing stuff from there) It can be frustrating at times, but I think that overall it is an excellent experience that every Linux user should have.

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Linux is not older than Windows nor Mac OS by any stretch.

Don;t limit yourself to just Zorin DVD's are cheap and there are lots of distro's out there give them a try and find out what is right for you.

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I really like Lubuntu. Plus the documentation is outstanding! http://help.ubuntu.com/

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Hi. I say try many of the major ones, live even plus different desktop environments; #'s 2 and 3 from the second link in my signature... best wishes and have fun.

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Forum membership has a lot to do with what distro I run.

Hence I tend to stick with knowledgable forum members with a daily hand in supporting members with
stumbling blocks in said distro.

So I don't run certain distros because of this. If Zorin works for you and the forums are good. Use it.

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An important consideration is what the age and specs of your machine is. You should post that to get the best possible advice on which distro would work well for you.

I just came to linux from windows xp 2 months ago and it has worked out great for me so far, so I would encourage you to do good research and ask for advice here and then go for it. Also, what I did is "dual boot", which means I still have xp along side the linux and can choose between the two.

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Hi. I'm in a similar boat. I used windows 7, and decided on Slackware Linux. I imagine you did your homework before deciding on a flavor. I'm not dual-booting. I'd recommend 2 installs though. One to use and the other as a learning tool. Odds are, you can fit it on a pendrive. If you mess with much it's pretty easy to break stuff. Try everything once as a test before trying it for reals. Just my two-cents.

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I have used Zorin, and like it. Nothing beats Slackware, though, especially if you want to learn and not have your computer do everything for you.

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I would second the recommendation for Lubuntu.
Lubuntu is laid out like XP in that the menu button is on the lower left, and the panel and task switcher are on the bottom. Also, Lubuntu is very light and fast and will likely run well on a PC that came with Windows XP installed on it.
Be advised, however, if you install resource intensive apps like the incredibly bloated Rhythmbox or Amarok music players for example, you will also install a lot of crap that you do not need because of the way the apt package manager works on Ubuntu. Stick with lightweight apps like audacious (which comes with Lubuntu) and get vlc for videos and you will have a light and fast system that will be easy to understand from the perspective of a Windows XP user.

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Just thought of something you need to consider about zorin 8. It is based off of ubuntu 13.10 which is not a long term supported version (I think support ends in July, not positive about that). But, ubuntu already came out with their LTS (long term support ) 14.04 which will last for 3 years.

The zorin lite is based off of Lubuntu (which some have recommended to you) and quite frankly I don't see much of a difference as far as being so "windows" looking--Lubuntu already is! And, I believe zorin's regular is based off of xubuntu (not positive on that), and again, that also is very close to the look of windows too. However, both of those are now 14.04 releases with support until 2017.

I just came from XP two months ago and installed Xubuntu 14.04. All I did was move the panel from the top to the bottom and it feels just like XP in that regard. I really don't see the big deal about zorin "looking like windows" when others, including the ones it's based on, look pretty much the same.

Depending on your pc specs, you should also consider Lubuntu 14.04 or Xubuntu 14.04. You really should list your ram and processor so better suggestions can be made (mint 17 might be a possibility if the xfce edition is out yet). In any event, if you stick with zorin, wait until the new version comes out.

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arnyb says:
That's a good thought.
I had not given that aspect much thought. I am using an "old" computer, though the processor is a newer one. I think I'm using a P4 (or equivalent) w/768 MB (RAM) with on-board cache memory (no certain of how much here). It seems slow, but I am not the techie type, so ... I might be wrong.
Can anyone offer any thoughts on this aspect. I am told that older processors, and older machine tend to run slower, and one advantage of specific versions of Linux is that on a "older machine", this does not tend to be a problem.

Anyone have any thoughts on that ?? Would different distro treat different hardware configurations better or worse - feature wise. This should be something I need to know, any thoughts on this.

I realize that there are a lot of user's out there with strong linux background which include hardware specific to certain versions (and distro's). Again, as a newbie, I need somebody with a strong background to provide the needed advise.

thanks to all,

Arnyb