I have been a long time user of mint who returned to ubuntu 11.10 and then to ubuntu 12.04 with unity...i got to like it a lot but recently i tried Zorin 6 Release Candidate (the iso has a few bugs which seem to go away when installed) and i must say i am really impressed! The RC is only available in 32 bits but the final release will of course have both 32 and 64 bit...I have used Zorin in the past and always liked it but never installed it before...for me, Zorin 6 will be a "keeper"...
It's based on Ubuntu 12.04 of course, and is very fast, smooth and snappy and just has a great "feel" to the whole thing....To adopt for Gnome 3 they very cleverly worked out the use of the AWN (Avant Window Manager) dock and it's used to create the lower panel it has instead (just like mint...1 panel on bottom)...and for the menu it is the good old gnomenu which is preset to a "Windows 7" look style slab menu to help windows converts feel more comfortable (though there is about a dozen other slab menu styles one can use if they prefer...i kind of like the windows 7 default one though...it is cute...lol)...
Otherwise, it is like a highly customized ubuntu with cute compiz effects by default, nice fonts in the windows (ubuntu style) colors, theming, etc...and i think they do other little things to ubuntu to make it run snappier too...
If someone wants to check it out, go to the blog announcement on their site (it will lead you to the proper link)...the main download would be the old Zorin 5 (gnome 2 version)...
Here is a newly posted video review of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5K6nYhXwdYOnly weak spot is the Zorin community is a bit light on activity...my favorite forums are ubuntu and mint of course...but of course it is ubuntu underneath, so plenty of places to get help...though they do try over there...
But when the 64 bit version is released, i am installing for sure...using it made me realize that though i like Unity, the old style way of working a desktop is a bit easier to work with
I am fond of Cinnamon also but i have to give the "edge" to Zorin 6....really love it
