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The popularity of ChromeOS in US schools means millions of kids require Gmail accounts (since ChromeOS requires sign-in the OS to full use). It's probably true

The popularity of ChromeOS in US schools means millions of kids require Gmail accounts (since ChromeOS requires sign-in the OS to full use). It's probably true to say that almost every school kid in the US has been captured by Google's embrace. The 'tech community' have little to say on the matter. In fact, developers are more likely to defend Google rather than question unprecedented levels of data collection.

SXX 4y ago
AFAIK you can have Google Account with your own email without using GMail. Isnt such account work for ChromeOS? From what I can tell they are fully featured accounts with only mail service being missing. Am I wrong?
texaslonghorn5 4y ago
This is false, most schools are using active directory SSO which happens to use Google for Education but could easily be migrated. In fact, many places have Microsoft 365 and Google working at the same time under the same SSO. Yes they are using "Gmail accounts" but that's a far cry from @gmail.com accounts.
hagen2022 4y ago
The issue is that there are no proper replacements for Gmail. Too many people (whether opensource fellows or privacy or both) suggest do not use it but there are NO good answers. One cannot expect a local shop or university to host email services 24x7 AND provide world-class security. This is like excel/word/ppt becoming a default file format and use of MS office. Sure libreoffice works but when everyone is using MS products - one has no chance but to use MS. hn always loves fastmail but I bet they cant run a billion logins. No local govt or company has the employees to manage such good features. (Example; I tried once to use apple email, calendar for 20 people. Too many sync problems. When asked in Apple forums they often told me Apple infra is designed for families and not for 20 people)
- denton-scratch 4y ago
  > One cannot expect a local shop or university to host email services 24x7 AND provide world-class security. You're right! That doesn't mean you have to rely on The Borg. I rely on my ISP (admittedly an unusually good ISP); I pay them for mail service, a fiver a month, on my own domain. There are many dedicated commercial email providers that are reliable and secure, such as Fastmail (I've never tried Fastmail).
UberFly 4y ago
A lot of schools use variants of Microsoft 365 as well. Not any better.

SXX 4y ago

AFAIK you can have Google Account with your own email without using GMail. Isnt such account work for ChromeOS? From what I can tell they are fully featured accounts with only mail service being missing. Am I wrong?

texaslonghorn5 4y ago

This is false, most schools are using active directory SSO which happens to use Google for Education but could easily be migrated. In fact, many places have Microsoft 365 and Google working at the same time under the same SSO. Yes they are using "Gmail accounts" but that's a far cry from @gmail.com accounts.

hagen2022 4y ago

The issue is that there are no proper replacements for Gmail. Too many people (whether opensource fellows or privacy or both) suggest do not use it but there are NO good answers. One cannot expect a local shop or university to host email services 24x7 AND provide world-class security. This is like excel/word/ppt becoming a default file format and use of MS office. Sure libreoffice works but when everyone is using MS products - one has no chance but to use MS. hn always loves fastmail but I bet they cant run a billion logins. No local govt or company has the employees to manage such good features. (Example; I tried once to use apple email, calendar for 20 people. Too many sync problems. When asked in Apple forums they often told me Apple infra is designed for families and not for 20 people)

denton-scratch 4y ago
> One cannot expect a local shop or university to host email services 24x7 AND provide world-class security. You're right! That doesn't mean you have to rely on The Borg. I rely on my ISP (admittedly an unusually good ISP); I pay them for mail service, a fiver a month, on my own domain. There are many dedicated commercial email providers that are reliable and secure, such as Fastmail (I've never tried Fastmail).

UberFly 4y ago

A lot of schools use variants of Microsoft 365 as well. Not any better.