10 ms·
Until you loose internet connectivity (happens from time to time), or go abroad and don't want to pay high fees for net access. Or when Google decides that you
by krzyk 10y ago
Until you loose internet connectivity (happens from time to time), or go abroad and don't want to pay high fees for net access.
Or when Google decides that you broke some of their rules (frequently happens in AdSense) and blocks all of your accounts.
- opportune 10y agoI think you're missing the point. Children don't need to worry about breaking AdSense rules and getting their accounts blocked, especially if they have accounts dedicated for school. Children also will have internet at school.
- BatFastard 10y agoExactly, these are single purpose laptops for education. And I do believe that google docs has an offline mode now. So they can work offline for a limited period (at least). And how does this 1000 USD compete with 250 USD boxes?
- rubyn00bie 10y agoThe way it likely competes (which I'm not saying I agree with) is on supportability and productivity. That is to say, I'm sure Microsoft has data that "shows" these will be cheaper to administrate and support than Chromebooks. Combine that with all the software you can install, or offline workflows, etc and Microsoft comes out on top (according to Microsoft). It's how Microsoft has always done things. I'm not here saying it's right or wrong, I'm just trying to answer your question.
- shimon 10y agoActually, this is more like the opposite of how Microsoft has always done things. When they've entered markets, from OS to word processing to RDBMS to web browsers, they've consistently produced simpler, cheaper products. Then they've gradually improved them until they became credible competitors and often dominant choices. With phones, tablets, and now cheap school laptops, their timing didn't allow that. Google has already succeeded with the classic Microsoft strategy, all the way down to commoditizing the hardware vendors. Microsoft is instead coming in as a semi-premium option, combined with inertia/safety as a brand trusted by enterprises. The same play is a bit more successful in cloud computing, but they're still losing to AWS who are nailing the classic Microsoft strategy. Assuming they continue to decline in their ability to rapid-follow in new technology platforms, I expect they'll look more and more like Oracle and IBM.
- jasikpark 10y agoIt doesn't. The $139 windows laptop Microsoft is coming out with later this year will.
- kodfodrasz 9y agoThis sound very interesting! Could you please provide some link to back up this claim?
- Analemma_ 10y agoWindows 10 S will run on other devices besides the Surface Laptop, most of which will cost closer to $250. The Surface is just the flagship device for it.
- BatFastard 9y agoI just dont get why I would ever spent 1000 USD on a model that does less than the Surface for a similar price.
- zepto 10y agoBut we should worry about google building advertising profiles on children, as they have been doing.
- opportune 10y agoVery true, I was thinking of Chromebooks purely from a utility standpoint, but if parts of Google's plan is to build profiles on children starting from when they're young, that is actually especially nefarious. I'm worried most of all that Google will use some sort of sentiment analysis or other machine learning tool to classify kids based on academic ability and build a sort of "cognitive profile" on children as they age.
- ixacto 10y agoThis is really disturbing. Pretty much the literal definition of "hook em wile they're young. I am starting to think we need a standard oil style breakup of google/amazon/fb.
- donalhunt 10y agoI do not believe this statement to be true. The privacy notice provided by Google for their G Suite for Education is available here: https://gsuite.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html https://gsuite.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html It clearly states "Google does not serve ads in the Core Services or use personal information collected in the Core Services for advertising purposes." Is the evidence that indicates this is not true? Is this in relation to non-core services that school administrators may opt into?
- morganvachon 10y agoThey aren't using it for advertising purposes right now, but they can still collect and store the data on children thanks to outdated privacy laws. Once the child comes of age all of that information is fair game according to their own policy (once the child becomes an adult, if they continue to use their account or link it to a new Google account, they are automatically under Google's normal privacy policy which we all know allows them to harvest everything you do within their services). https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/12/28/google-is-tracking-students-as-it-sells-more-products-to-schools-privacy-advocates-warn/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/12/28...
- krzyk 10y agoI didn't know that there are special accounts, I assumed they are reusing their own. If it is like a corporate accounts in other places then yes, no need to worry about blocking the account.
- aaronbasssett 10y agoThey don't use their personal accounts. Accounts are managed for students in much the same way as the would be for a business hosted with Google Apps - https://edu.google.com/ https://edu.google.com/
- natch 10y agoMy child lost her firstname.lastname gmail/Google account for life for a one-time childish mistake. So, I guess you are mistaken.
- PuffinBlue 10y agoAnd what was this one-time childish mistake that lead to losing the account?
- adamking 10y agoI'm curious as well. There's little a child, let alone an adult, could that would result in a permaban.
- adamking 10y agodo
- CamperBob2 10y agoSee the story the other day, where someone discovered the hard way what happens if you registered your PayPal account before you turned 18.
- IsmaOlvey 9y agoThe story, for anyone else wondering what was referred to: https://hackernoon.com/paypal-is-still-one-of-the-worst-online-examples-of-customer-service-42f3c13f6cd0 https://hackernoon.com/paypal-is-still-one-of-the-worst-onli...
- s73ver 10y agoSpammed AdSense with fraudulent clicks, and impersonated other apps in the Play Store.
- natch 10y agoShe saw a chain email (i.e. forward this to 10 people!) and decided it would be fun to make up her own. Apparently it was successful enough to get somebody's attention. Edit: To be clear, I would never blame them for wanting to stop a cascading explosion of emails. But I also wouldn't say it's impossible for a child to get an account banned.
- LeoPanthera 10y agoI've never used a Chromebook so this is an honest question - do they not have any kind of local sync, so you can work on your stuff and then upload it back to the cloud next time you get online?
- BHSPitMonkey 10y agoOnly to the extent that the sites/apps themselves choose to do that.
- Filligree 10y agoYou do have the option of installing Android apps, so there should usually be something.
- alpha_squared 10y agoThere is local sync for Google Drive applications (Docs, Sheets, whatever the other ones are called). There is, albeit small, an internal SSD for Chromebooks. On the whole, it's up to the web app developers to handle that functionality.
- sowbug 10y agoThere are also local apps. The app platform is a little like Electron or Node -- locally-installed JavaScript with extra APIs that aren't available on the open web. Examples: Caret text editor: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/caret/fljalecfjciodhpcledpamjachpmelml https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/caret/fljalecfjcio... Text text editor: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/text/mmfbcljfglbokpmkimbfghdkjmjhdgbg https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/text/mmfbcljfglbok... You can save stuff on Google Drive, and then it'll sync when back online. People often say that Chromebooks don't have apps and that they're just a web browser. They're wrong.
- azag0 10y agoThat kind of misses the point for school use. But yes, for personal use you're right
- krzyk 10y agoAt schools, during exams internet connectivity is disabled on purpose. How Chromebooks work then? EDIT: Why the down votes? My wife is a teacher and disabling internet access during any kind of a test (not to mention exam).
- dsr_ 10y agoAt schools that use Chromebooks, they take away the Chromebooks during exams -- unless the exam is being taken on the Chromebook, which is a thing that happens.
- lucasmullens 10y agoYou take digital exams on computers without internet access? Where and how?
- zuron7 10y agoI'm guessing over the local network.
- krzyk 10y agoAt schools in Poland. You can't have internet access so you won't look up answers on the internet. You have just computer in from of you. It's pretty standard way of doing any kind of grading. Example would be for programming class or for office suite. You don't need internet to work in IDE or in Office.
- squeaky-clean 10y agoAs long as you log in before internet is disabled (don't show up late to class?), you'll be in your user account. The laptop screens don't become black once they lose internet connection. Google Docs/Sheets/etc supports offline editing, and a quick Google shows there are IDE's that run on a chromebook with offline mode support.
- bitmapbrother 10y agoDo you really think you can't use a Chromebook in offline mode?
- krzyk 10y agoI don't know - gp wrote that the data is "100% cloud based" so I assumed they don't.
- bitmapbrother 9y agoYou can use many ChromeOS apps in offline mode. And if your ChromeOS laptop supports Android apps then all of the apps are available whether offline or online.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- pkulak 10y agoOr someone smashes your machine with a hammer, or there's a nuclear war... All kinds of things can go wrong. I'm not really sure what your point is.
- Koshkin 10y ago> Or... or... The point, I guess, would be that losing internet connection for these reasons is not an issue.
- ChairmanPao 10y agoI don't understand. What do you mean by 'loose' internet connectivity?
- owaislone 10y agoExcept they work fairly well offline if you choose to store some data offline or in pen drives. Also, latest ones run almost the whole play store which completely changes the game. They can work as better android tablets when offline.
- Buge 10y agoYou lose your entire google account for breaking adsense rules? I thought you just lost the ability to do adsense stuff.
- vezycash 10y agoRecently, yes, you only lose adsense access - at least in my recent experience. Originally, you lost the email account. I once lost an adsense account by doing absolutely nothing. I was in a university where internet was slow and hard to get. After a semester, logged back into my adsense connected blogger account but was told the account was blocked and couldn't be retrieved.
- gcb0 10y agoor google gets tired of supporting whatever server those machines won't function without.