What would a Microsoft engineer do to Ubuntu? AnduinOS is the answer

It's not radical, but it is slim and pretty – usually a winning combination

AnduinOS, a one-man project from a Chinese Microsoft engineer, is quite a new Ubuntu remix that reshapes GNOME in the image of Windows 11.

So far, AnduinOS is only on its fourth release. The current release, version 1.3, is based on Ubuntu 25.04 and appeared at the start of this month.

Although it is not technologically radical, there are a few unusual aspects to AnduinOS that make it interesting. Unlike many remixes, it doesn't replace Ubuntu's default desktop. Instead, it modifies Canonical's current version of GNOME to look strikingly like Windows 11, using a collection of existing extensions and themes. It has good localization, with separate regional versions and full Chinese language support. This is because it's a one-man project by a Chinese developer, Anduin Xue, whose day job is at Microsoft.

We're not wild about the Windows 11-style start button, but it works – click to enlarge

The AnduinOS desktop strongly resembles Windows 11, so it could provide a soft landing for users who are familiar with the newest version of desktop Windows, but perhaps want to try Linux on an older PC that can't run the latest release. It does this using a custom theme that looks very like this KDE 6 one, right down to the wallpaper and a collection of 18 different GNOME extensions. (This might cause problems with OS upgrades in future: GNOME extensions are known for being prone to break with new versions of the desktop, but the GNOME project is working on this.)

To achieve its Win11-style looks, AnduinOS bundles a lot of GNOME extensions – click to enlarge

Zorin OS does similar, but it doesn't use upstream versions of extensions – although the company does sponsor their development. The paid version of Zorin OS also adds in lots of additional FOSS apps. AnduinOS doesn't. In fact, it has fewer components than Ubuntu itself, making it slightly lighter-weight. Another win due to sticking with vanilla GNOME is that AnduinOS works well using both X.org and Wayland, unlike Linux Mint's Cinnamon, a GNOME fork whose Wayland support is still experimental.

AnduinOS has more than just cosmetic changes, though. It removes Canonical's controversial Snap packaging format and its supporting tools. It replaces it with Flatpak and the GNOME Software app store configured to show only Flatpak apps. AnduinOS uses native .deb packages throughout, including for Mozilla Firefox; it comes with no Flatpaks installed at all. The plan is that all additional apps you add will be Flatpaks. This will take more disk space, but it means you'll get more recent versions, and updating should be easier.

You will probably need some extra apps. There's no office suite, no email client, no messaging client, and so on. Ever since Ubuntu 23.10, what was previously called the "minimal installation" has been the default, and you get a similar set of apps here. They're mostly GNOME accessories, such as image and document viewers, media players, an enhanced calculator, a BitTorrent client, and so on. However, if the computer is mostly for web access, this may be all you need.

As we've covered recently, the "End of 10" is nigh, leading to high levels of interest in Windows-replacement distros. The creator of AnduinOS has written about his surprise about the levels of attention his little side project has attracted of late.

We aren't surprised, though. For a modest project by a single developer, it's a great example. Another highlight is that it has good documentation, which is especially unusual for a hobby project. For instance, it has a clear version history, so while the current version 1.3 is based on an interim Ubuntu release, and so won't get updates after next January, there are LTS versions: AnduinOS 1.0 was based on Ubuntu "Jammy" and 1.1 on "Noble," the current LTS. The future roadmap is that version 1.5 will be an LTS, based on Ubuntu 26.04.

AnduinOS 1.3 is only a 2 GB download, while the full GNOME version of Ubuntu is a whopping six and a quarter gigabytes. Even the minimal version of Xubuntu 25.04 is three gigs. Although GNOME is not a lightweight desktop, as we mentioned looking at the Fedora 42 beta, GNOME 48 has been tuned to perform better on low-end hardware. The default AnduinOS install took 6.9 GB of disk space (including a 2 GB swap file) and 1.3 GB of RAM at idle. That's not bad for a 2025 Linux.

The Reg FOSS desk favors the principle of "less is more," and while GNOME still isn't our preferred desktop, AnduinOS makes it look as good as it gets. We feel that the developers of some of the higher-profile Ubuntu-based distros could learn by paying close attention to this. ®

Bootnote

We can't help but wonder if project creator Anduin Xue's parents are Tolkien fans. Anduin is the name of a river in Middle Earth.