Doubling the lifespan of older Chromebooks would save California’s schools $225 million, according to advocacy group CALPIRG.

There are few things quite as emblematic of late stage capitalism than the concept of “planned obsolescence”.

@Sina@beehaw.org
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14
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1Y

Give them to the kids with a QR code guide sticker about installing Linux on them? I’m not a kid, but I would love if someone “threw” a couple of these in my general direction.

@MaxHardwood@lemmy.ca
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91Y

Most of these Chromebooks are 3-4 years old and in really rough shape. Kids use these things for literally everything. You likely wouldn’t even want them for free. Probably bio-waste at this point.

@Squidious@lemm.ee
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21Y

A friend asked me to fix their daughter’s desktop and also asked if she could borrow an old laptop to use in the meantime. The desktop was disgusting with food smeared all over the keys and display. I cleaned it up and fixed it and sent it back. My laptop was returned with food smeared everywhere after just a few days. I was stunned.

@boonhet@lemm.ee
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121Y

Almost certainly not allowed, schools are responsible for privacy and security on these devices.

Any standard desktop linux is more private and secure than google spyware

@Hephoh2@feddit.de
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31Y

Yes but there might already be personal data on them from the child, so they cannot give the chromebooks out before wiping them, which seems hard to do so they just bin em.

@boonhet@lemm.ee
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81Y

And as soon as the IT guy at school installs Linux on these machines, he’s responsible for said privacy and security. And he’s a lot easier to sue than Google if something goes wrong.

This is exactly why right here, cost aside.

I would not hand out hundreds of Chromebooks to kids running some Linux distro I installed even if I could. It’s critical to have full manufacturer support in these types of environments.

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