6 ms·

Google offering free Chromebooks to Indian schools

65 points by kshatrea 13y ago

bowlofpetunias 13y ago
It's interesting that Google is hardy being scrutinized for using exactly the same tactics for which Microsoft was vilified a decade ago.
shimon_e 13y ago
It must be so different going to school these days. I feel excited for our future kids!
- psbp 13y ago
  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 childhood idealizations.
  - blubbi2 13y ago
    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 that most of the "old" teachers simply don't know how to use these fancy new things (including computers in general) and there are also teachers that are so fascinated by Facebook and BayernMoodle (http://www.bayernmoodle.de/ http://www.bayernmoodle.de/) that they more or less force their students to use it on weekends in order to give them exercises. More or less, when I tell my mother about the lessons (she went to the same school as I do), I often realize that sometimes neither the teachers nor the way eduction is being done changed all. I would be happy about new books, some on mine are far older than myself. Maybe others have different experiences, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
    - eru 13y ago
      Don't waste your time worrying about school too much. Make sure you get into things like https://www.deutsche-schuelerakademie.de https://www.deutsche-schuelerakademie.de or http://www.deutsche-juniorakademien.de http://www.deutsche-juniorakademien.de. (Their Alumni organisation (http://www.cde-ev.de/ http://www.cde-ev.de/) is actually open for everybody, and I can only recommend joining. https://mind-hochschul-netzwerk.de/ https://mind-hochschul-netzwerk.de/ is also worth a look.)
      - blubbi2 13y ago
        Wow! This is great! I've already been to a so-called "Ferienseminar für besonders begabte und interessierte Schülerinnen und Schüler", an event I've been invited to and which I can only recommend, but these links are great! Thank you! Since I'm doing an additional test, I'll try getting into some of these programmes.
        deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
        eru 13y ago
        Oh, none of these programmes are tests. If you a into that kind of thing, you should also compete in the Mathematik-Olympiade (and physics and chemistry olympiad, too). There are also Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik and Bundeswettbewerb Informatik, that are fun to take part in. Drop me a line (email in profile), if you want to learn more. I grew up in Germany, but ended up all over the world, currently I'm in Singapore.
- snowbunny 13y ago
  What's so exciting about running a browser on a artificially locked down and crippled OS where you're forced to upload everything to the cloud where you have minimal control over your data, instead of running it on Linux or even OS X or Windows?
  - vezzy-fnord 13y ago
    This is what I would like to know, as well. But actually, even ignoring that, I don't see how giving kids free electronics is so exciting. Public school is heading towards obsolescence, and arbitrarily handing out gadgets to students demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of technological advancement and its role in education. This isn't any better than the state of California trying to patch its failure by handing out free iPads, although I guess it's more practical, given the poverty rate and extreme wealth disparity in India.
rwbt 13y ago
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.
- aufreak3 13y ago
  Is it possible to install regular Ubuntu or something on a Chromebook? I'd absolutely hate to see kids use computers whose operation they do not control.
  - Mikeb85 13y ago
    Developer mode. Chrome OS = Gentoo, and you can use Crouton to install Ubuntu or another distro alongside Chrome OS (and they share the kernel as opposed to dual-booting).
- josteink 13y ago
  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.
  - Alterlife 13y ago
    Apart from the good points that other folks are making, this isn't necessarily targeted at engineering students. A decent screen, a decent keyboard, comes with a word processor, is low maintenance, doesn't get viruses (theoretically at least) and it can access the web. That sounds pretty good to me.
  - userbinator 13y ago
    Indeed, a bootable browser has little use outside of... web browsing. Even an old machine with an old OS is more usable, especially when there's no network connectivity. That happens a lot more than you think with a laptop.
salient 13y ago
This deal was probably made pre-Snowden revelations. I doubt any of the world's governments are so eager to deploy US-controlled machines in their institutions and schools, especially if they are "cloud-only".
- rational_indian 13y ago
  But it's free!!!
  - louthy 13y ago
    So was the Trojan Horse.
- seiji 13y ago
  What? The NSA wants poorly written papers by school children?
eitally 13y ago
They're probably hoping for something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3ipm3fDU60 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3ipm3fDU60.
winterswift 13y ago
I see there's a mini-shitstorm going on here, but let's say Google is in fact a business acting in its own self-interest to some degree, which seems reasonable. Let's say they're giving away Chromebooks because a) they wish to do good in the world, and b) they'd like to get more people using Google services, and this seems like a rather effective method of gaining long-term users. Now, ignoring the fact that you can indeed use crouton, enable dev mode, or otherwise "hack the platform" so to speak, where's the actual issue in having these kids using Google services? Google's offering them free computers. Does we honestly think that a poor kid in India wouldn't eagerly give written consent to become a user of Google's services, letting Google benefit from that as they do from any similar user, especially when they're not being forced in any way whatsoever to continue doing so in the future? I'm a goddamn middle-class American, I believe I have a reasonable knowledge of what Google will get out of this deal (as they do every day from my heavy usage of their services), and I would accept the free computer. Even at that, poor kids without regular access to the internet aren't your average highly tech-literate, open-source-aware HN user, and I really doubt they care about Google's relatively responsible* use of collected information in exchange for a rather nice free netbook, even if they were fully aware of its implications. *Sure, I understand this is an arguable definition, but in the larger scheme of things, it seems fair to say that Google doesn't have a malicious use of the data in mind.
- diadara 13y ago
  I love quoting RMS. "What schools should refuse to do is teach dependence. Those corporations offer free samples to schools for the same reason tobacco companies distribute free cigarettes to minors: to get children addicted. They will not give discounts to these students once they've grown up and graduated." Surely this applies only if you consider chromebooks as free and this not true atleast by RMS standards.
xradionut 13y ago
I think a much better ethical investment would be XO laptops from OLPC, Internet-in-a-Box devices, and grants to train local teachers on how to use both.

65 points by kshatrea 13y ago

It's interesting that Google is hardy being scrutinized for using exactly the same tactics for which Microsoft was vilified a decade ago.

shimon_e 13y ago

It must be so different going to school these days. I feel excited for our future kids!

psbp 13y ago
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 childhood idealizations.
- blubbi2 13y ago
  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 that most of the "old" teachers simply don't know how to use these fancy new things (including computers in general) and there are also teachers that are so fascinated by Facebook and BayernMoodle (http://www.bayernmoodle.de/ http://www.bayernmoodle.de/) that they more or less force their students to use it on weekends in order to give them exercises. More or less, when I tell my mother about the lessons (she went to the same school as I do), I often realize that sometimes neither the teachers nor the way eduction is being done changed all. I would be happy about new books, some on mine are far older than myself. Maybe others have different experiences, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
  - eru 13y ago
    Don't waste your time worrying about school too much. Make sure you get into things like https://www.deutsche-schuelerakademie.de https://www.deutsche-schuelerakademie.de or http://www.deutsche-juniorakademien.de http://www.deutsche-juniorakademien.de. (Their Alumni organisation (http://www.cde-ev.de/ http://www.cde-ev.de/) is actually open for everybody, and I can only recommend joining. https://mind-hochschul-netzwerk.de/ https://mind-hochschul-netzwerk.de/ is also worth a look.)
    - blubbi2 13y ago
      Wow! This is great! I've already been to a so-called "Ferienseminar für besonders begabte und interessierte Schülerinnen und Schüler", an event I've been invited to and which I can only recommend, but these links are great! Thank you! Since I'm doing an additional test, I'll try getting into some of these programmes.
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
      - eru 13y ago
        Oh, none of these programmes are tests. If you a into that kind of thing, you should also compete in the Mathematik-Olympiade (and physics and chemistry olympiad, too). There are also Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik and Bundeswettbewerb Informatik, that are fun to take part in. Drop me a line (email in profile), if you want to learn more. I grew up in Germany, but ended up all over the world, currently I'm in Singapore.
snowbunny 13y ago
What's so exciting about running a browser on a artificially locked down and crippled OS where you're forced to upload everything to the cloud where you have minimal control over your data, instead of running it on Linux or even OS X or Windows?
- vezzy-fnord 13y ago
  This is what I would like to know, as well. But actually, even ignoring that, I don't see how giving kids free electronics is so exciting. Public school is heading towards obsolescence, and arbitrarily handing out gadgets to students demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of technological advancement and its role in education. This isn't any better than the state of California trying to patch its failure by handing out free iPads, although I guess it's more practical, given the poverty rate and extreme wealth disparity in India.

rwbt 13y ago

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.

aufreak3 13y ago
Is it possible to install regular Ubuntu or something on a Chromebook? I'd absolutely hate to see kids use computers whose operation they do not control.
- Mikeb85 13y ago
  Developer mode. Chrome OS = Gentoo, and you can use Crouton to install Ubuntu or another distro alongside Chrome OS (and they share the kernel as opposed to dual-booting).
josteink 13y ago
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.
- Alterlife 13y ago
  Apart from the good points that other folks are making, this isn't necessarily targeted at engineering students. A decent screen, a decent keyboard, comes with a word processor, is low maintenance, doesn't get viruses (theoretically at least) and it can access the web. That sounds pretty good to me.
- userbinator 13y ago
  Indeed, a bootable browser has little use outside of... web browsing. Even an old machine with an old OS is more usable, especially when there's no network connectivity. That happens a lot more than you think with a laptop.

salient 13y ago

This deal was probably made pre-Snowden revelations. I doubt any of the world's governments are so eager to deploy US-controlled machines in their institutions and schools, especially if they are "cloud-only".

rational_indian 13y ago
But it's free!!!
- louthy 13y ago
  So was the Trojan Horse.
seiji 13y ago
What? The NSA wants poorly written papers by school children?

eitally 13y ago

They're probably hoping for something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3ipm3fDU60 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3ipm3fDU60.

winterswift 13y ago

I see there's a mini-shitstorm going on here, but let's say Google is in fact a business acting in its own self-interest to some degree, which seems reasonable. Let's say they're giving away Chromebooks because a) they wish to do good in the world, and b) they'd like to get more people using Google services, and this seems like a rather effective method of gaining long-term users. Now, ignoring the fact that you can indeed use crouton, enable dev mode, or otherwise "hack the platform" so to speak, where's the actual issue in having these kids using Google services? Google's offering them free computers. Does we honestly think that a poor kid in India wouldn't eagerly give written consent to become a user of Google's services, letting Google benefit from that as they do from any similar user, especially when they're not being forced in any way whatsoever to continue doing so in the future? I'm a goddamn middle-class American, I believe I have a reasonable knowledge of what Google will get out of this deal (as they do every day from my heavy usage of their services), and I would accept the free computer. Even at that, poor kids without regular access to the internet aren't your average highly tech-literate, open-source-aware HN user, and I really doubt they care about Google's relatively responsible* use of collected information in exchange for a rather nice free netbook, even if they were fully aware of its implications. *Sure, I understand this is an arguable definition, but in the larger scheme of things, it seems fair to say that Google doesn't have a malicious use of the data in mind.

diadara 13y ago
I love quoting RMS. "What schools should refuse to do is teach dependence. Those corporations offer free samples to schools for the same reason tobacco companies distribute free cigarettes to minors: to get children addicted. They will not give discounts to these students once they've grown up and graduated." Surely this applies only if you consider chromebooks as free and this not true atleast by RMS standards.

xradionut 13y ago

I think a much better ethical investment would be XO laptops from OLPC, Internet-in-a-Box devices, and grants to train local teachers on how to use both.