I tried AnduinOS 2.0, and it may be the easiest way to ditch Windows for Linux

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

ZDNET’s key takeaways

AnduinOS 2.0 beta is available, and it’s something special.
This desktop distribution is fast, clean, and private.
You can download and test the latest release now.

“Today, AIURSOFT Limited is thrilled to announce the beta release of AnduinOS 2.0.0. This is not just another system update; it is a fundamental, ground-up architectural rewrite of our entire operating system.”

That’s the opening to the announcement about AnduinOS 2.0. It continues to say, “Listening closely to community feedback regarding maintainability and package management, we have completely reimagined how AnduinOS is built, distributed, and maintained.”

Also: Windows Subsystem for Linux gives developers a compelling reason to stick with Microsoft – here’s why

Essentially, AIURSOFT Limited is leaving behind the era of ‘remastering’ and moving into the era of true distro engineering.

What does that even mean? Well, to begin, AnduinOS is now assembled within a pristine, sandboxed debootstrap and chroot pipeline. Again, what does that mean? AnduinOS now uses a proprietary, XML-based declarative domain-specific language and an automated compilation toolchain that makes the AnduinOS core modularized into 56 standalone, native .deb packages. In the end, that makes for a more stable, predictable, and reproducible operating system.

More importantly, AnduinOS now enforces a strict “hard-fail” policy, such that if any unwanted Ubuntu packages are detected during the build, the ISO generation is aborted. By doing this, you can be certain that the AnduinOS ISO you’ve downloaded is pristine and fundamentally respects your privacy.

AnduinOS 2.0 is really good

Now, here’s the important part of AnduinOS 2.0 — it’s really good. Yes, it’s laid out like Windows 11 (which is great for some users, but I prefer a much more Linux-like desktop), it’s remarkably stable for an early release (beta), it ships with zero bloatware, it doesn’t track you at all, and it will make you feel…

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