Original message from the Vanilla OS Discord announcment, from @mirkob1:
For those asking for Vanilla OS 2 Orchid's release date, the simple answer is: soon, very soon.
While the full one is: please let us work with no rush, Orchid has a complex structure, introduces new paradigms and we want to be sure that everything works the best before releasing.
Very exited!
I don't plan to use it personally (Silverblue enjoyer here), but I can definitely see it as a more future-oriented alternative to Mint, especially for beginners.
It seems to have a similar philosophy (user friendly and stable), with the difference that it might be more suited for younger users that aren't spoiled by traditional desktop workflows (Windows, KDE, etc.) yet.
My generation (those younger than 25) grew up using phones and tablets and will appreciate a simple, immutable system with Gnome way more than those who are older.