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Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#21

Post by pavanred »

rwbt wrote: post #6
josteink wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then again, having a Chromebook is way better than some crappy linux machine/cheap windows laptop. Why? It's a much more limited device with much less potential for learning essential skills. A Chromebook can only be used to surf the web. It's the polar opposite of what an educational institute needs.

It depends. A regular laptop can do more things, but most of the time students just need a laptop to research and write articles and the Chromebook does that very well, without exposing the internals of a traditional desktop system. If I'm a college student, I really don't want to deal with OS upgrades, malware and other things. I just want something that works out of the box and Chromebook does that perfectly. If I…

Say you use Windows, 1. Turn on automatic updates (default option, I think) 2. Use something like MS Security essentials

And, if you use Linux, 1. Update regularly, again I guess most distros have a default option to check for updates on boot. And, you don't need to upgrade your OS unless you want/have to.

How much more do you want to dumb it down? For basic use as you mentioned, to research and write articles, you are almost doing nothing already with windows/linux

Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#22

Post by Mikeb85 »

josteink wrote: post #4
rwbt wrote: post #3

I commend Google for it, but my inner voice is somewhat skeptical that this is a great way to get kids hooked on Google's services. Then again, having a Chromebook is way better than some crappy linux machine/cheap windows laptop. So I think its a win-win for both parties.

Then again, having a Chromebook is way better than some crappy linux machine/cheap windows laptop. Why? It's a much more limited device with much less potential for learning essential skills. A Chromebook can only be used to surf the web. It's the polar opposite of what an educational institute needs.

Funny how people believe things that get repeated, no matter how false.

> A Chromebook can only be used to surf the web. It's the polar opposite of what an educational institute needs.

Chrome OS is a highly customized version of Gentoo at its core. When you activate developer mode, you get access to a full Linux distro. Some people use Portage to install extra tools, some use Crouton to install Ubuntu alongside Chrome OS (they share the same kernel as opposed to dual-booting).

Heck, even if you don't use developer mode, there are some cool JavaScript programming tools that you can download and run locally in the browser.

Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#23

Post by stinos »

wklauss wrote: post #18
auctiontheory wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think of the hundred of millions of kids who've been hooked onto Microsoft's products. Why shouldn't kids have a choice?

I think we should strive for not repeating the Microsoft situation with a different brand. Like someone else commented, a Raspberry Pi seems like a better solution. Chromebooks are extremely tied to Google services.

rPi might seem ok at first, but I'm really not sure it's the best solution for cases like this, I find it's too much of a 'hacker' device? Sure if it works, it gives you a pretty usable general purpose OS (kinda slow though) but if it breaks (and it will sooner than the ordinary laptop/PC, either in software or in hardware) you'll have to have quite some linux experience in order to fix it.

I agree with your last sentence though. One single device tied to a single OS is a bad choice. I'd rather give them a laptop that dual-boots Linux and Windows. That at least gives children a taste of the real world where more than one OS is used and learns them how to use both.

Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#24

Post by eru »

rwbt wrote: post #3

I commend Google for it, but my inner voice is somewhat skeptical that this is a great way to get kids hooked on Google's services. Then again, having a Chromebook is way better than some crappy linux machine/cheap windows laptop. So I think its a win-win for both parties.

A Chromebook is essentially a cheap linux machine.

Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#25

Post by eru »

codygman wrote: post #11
rwbt wrote: post #3

I commend Google for it, but my inner voice is somewhat skeptical that this is a great way to get kids hooked on Google's services. Then again, having a Chromebook is way better than some crappy linux machine/cheap windows laptop. So I think its a win-win for both parties.

Even better is wiping the chromebook and putting linux on it!

It already comes with a Linux. You might want to put a different flavour of Linux on it, if you care enough. It's pretty easy, at least if you are willing to boot from external media.

Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#26

Post by eru »

blubbi2 wrote: post #20
psbp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember going through the majority of my primary education in the 2000's and being dismayed by the gap between public school education and the resources of the internet. It was such a weird, and unfortunate, period of denial. Maybe we're still experiencing that chasm between the way that society functions and the power of the internet to enrich our lives, but it seems like we're definitely inching closer to my chi…

I'm currently doing my A levels in a small school in the Upper Palatinate. The problem is - at least in Germany - that some schools have to invest the money they get in fundamental thing only, like sanitary facilities. The school I'm attending doesn't even have WARM water AT ALL! NOWHERE! On the other side, there are new built schools that can invest their money in Smart Boards and video projectors. Another point is…

Don't waste your time worrying about school too much. Make sure you get into things like https://www.deutsche-schuelerakademie.de or http://www.deutsche-juniorakademien.de.

(Their Alumni organisation (http://www.cde-ev.de/) is actually open for everybody, and I can only recommend joining. https://mind-hochschul-netzwerk.de/ is also worth a look.)

Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#27

Post by Teapot »

eru wrote: post #25
codygman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even better is wiping the chromebook and putting linux on it!

It already comes with a Linux. You might want to put a different flavour of Linux on it, if you care enough. It's pretty easy, at least if you are willing to boot from external media.

Hopefully the kids learns exactly this. How to get rid of the Google lock-in, and installs something that unlocks the full potential of the hardware.

Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#28

Post by chestnut-tree »

rwbt wrote: post #3

I commend Google for it, but my inner voice is somewhat skeptical that this is a great way to get kids hooked on Google's services. Then again, having a Chromebook is way better than some crappy linux machine/cheap windows laptop. So I think its a win-win for both parties.

"I commend Google for it..."

Why? This initiative is clearly in their own self-interest. That's not meant to be a cycnical jab, but just stating how it is.

Much more disturbing to me are the privacy implications. Since you cannot use a Chromebook without signing into the OS, Google has the potential to track everything you do on a Chromebook. And now they're giving these computers to kids.

Just stop and think about that for a few seconds. Over the course of a year, Google will potentially know every single website you visit, every document you print (even to your desktop printer), how ofen and when you use their online apps, and who knows what else? Their vaguely-worded privacy policies simply don't tell you what they track and record.

The privacy implications are horrendous in my view. Until Google clearly and unambiguosly state what they track and record I would never recommend using ChromeOS (that, plus the limited capabilities of the OS).

Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#29

Post by patrickaljord »

agumonkey wrote: post #19
josteink wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then again, having a Chromebook is way better than some crappy linux machine/cheap windows laptop. Why? It's a much more limited device with much less potential for learning essential skills. A Chromebook can only be used to surf the web. It's the polar opposite of what an educational institute needs.

With everything javascript, a browser can get you quite far. You have : - repl for a handful of languages from javascript to haskell with lisps in between. - jsfiddle to learn ~basic client-side webdev. - canvas/webgl to learn ~basic graphic programming. - if you dig deep enough you have VPRI OMeta for parser/metaprogramming. - if you're not in a hurry you can even learn ~basic unix (busybox, gcc 4.3) on Fabrice Bell…

If you install crouton, you can learn prolog or anything or if you just hit Ctrl+Alt+T you already have access to bash and chroot into any linux distro or ssh to a cheap vm.

Re: Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

#30

Post by patrickaljord »

chestnut-tree wrote: post #28
rwbt wrote: post #3

I commend Google for it, but my inner voice is somewhat skeptical that this is a great way to get kids hooked on Google's services. Then again, having a Chromebook is way better than some crappy linux machine/cheap windows laptop. So I think its a win-win for both parties.

"I commend Google for it... " Why? This initiative is clearly in their own self-interest. That's not meant to be a cycnical jab, but just stating how it is. Much more disturbing to me are the privacy implications. Since you cannot use a Chromebook without signing into the OS, Google has the potential to track everything you do on a Chromebook. And now they're giving these computers to kids. Just stop and think about…

> Since you cannot use a Chromebook without signing into the OS, Google has the potential to track everything you do on a Chromebook.

Pixel owner here. You can sign in as guest without a google account and use chrome without a google account then. You can even run as incognito in guest mode if you really care.

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