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@fatboy Sad that Chrome OS is 4.15% Market Share

@GotNothing @fatboy seeing ChromeOS being pushed on public schools - it’s pathetic. My kids just leave the school issued computer to the side. My youngest uses a #Fedora based laptop and gets of his works done using compatible applications such as #libreoffice.

We’ve moved around quite a bit and I’ve always talked to the district IT or school IT - why not Linux based school infrastructure?

Killing me smalls…killing me…

@jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy I work #education IT. We use a lot of #Linux in the backend. But for client machines, you have to use something supported. People will riot if its not a known quantity.

As much as I would love to give every student a Linux device and have them work in Libre office, its just not going to happen. There is probably also the argument to be made that you need to give them the tools they're going to see in the future and at 3% share, they're simply not going to see Linux.

@gnuplusmatt @jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy how is desktop linux these days for integration into larger operations/security infrastructure?

@nerdenator @jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy as a client device its easier under something like AzureAD, as even windows devices in that config use a local account and just cache a lot of network credentials.

Our SIEM can analyze Linux hosts, our radius infrastructure is Freeradius and Packetfence, it can talk to our AD. Our Hypervisor is Linux. A portion of our storage infrastructure is also Linux. Webhosts, all Linux/containers bar one that was a vendor requirement.

@jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy I hate to say it, but the closest thing we'll get anytime soon is #chromeOS.

and any gnu distro that hypothetically gets traction mainstream is probably going to look more like chromeOS anyway, #immutable like Fedora #silverblue / #kinoite or even #SteamOS

@gnuplusmatt @GotNothing @fatboy I’m good with an immutable as a gateway. Imagine a school district that invests in a company, say #system76 and uses #popos while asking S76 for support. That district has full #rightorepair, can easily have someone upgrade any and all desktop or laptop AND have a super stable and gaming friendly distro.

I’m not advocating full Arch or Gentoo for school districts but #fedora, #popos, #debian, heck…go #elementary if you want pre packaged simplicity.

@jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy I fully agree it would be an awesome thing to try. But even the limited things we've tried to do to get just proprietary tools out of the class room has failed.

We scaled back Adobe CC, replacing them with Krita et al for basic users, only giving CC to students specifically in Art and Design. Parents and students complained and the following semester everyone had CC licenses again.

Outside of IT students, the only successful FOSS tool our end users embrace is VLC

@jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy we have Libre Office packaged in Company Portal too, I think its had ~15 installs IIRC

@gnuplusmatt @GotNothing @fatboy and they’ve become so good. I’ve stopped using MS proprietary fonts. My entire family is on LibreOffice now

@jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy yeah subscription licenses are such a rort. We pay yearly what we used to pay for a site license that would have lasted us 5 years.

But the schools consider it the cost of doing business and its what they want to use. Ultimately we can't fight them in the classroom just for our technological ideals.

@gnuplusmatt @jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy UC Berkeley recently stopped giving everyone full CC licenses by default and encouraged everyone who didn't need editing capabilities to download Adobe Reader. The one function I haven't found in a Linux pdf app - which maybe exists and I just haven't found it - is redaction as easy as it is in Acrobat Pro, where you can just zip through a multipage file and mark redactions and then apply them.

@strypey @jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy @lightweight I'm not saying I agree with the argument, but when we've tried to push FOSS over commercial solutions, this is usually what we hear from faculty and parents.

I hate with a passion things like "Microsoft Educator" programs or "Apple Lighthouse Schools". Because it is entirely that, locking in the next generation, "getting them while they're young".

But most people are not interested in technology idealism, and it is a big road block

@gnuplusmatt contrary to the popular saw, I always say: the customer is almost never right. If they were, they wouldn't need us. Parents, for the most part, know little if anything about technology. We need leadership that can explain why concepts trump products every. Single. Time. And similarly, open leads to equity, and closed the opposite. We need to be bold and emphatic to parents who have swallowed the lies of big tech. @strypey @jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy

@lightweight @strypey @jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy unfortunately these things start at the top, and as i am in private education, the board and executive see things like Microsoft and "industry" partnerships as a win. It gets them enrollments.

As the system admins and ict managers, we have to fight the battles we can win. We've won most of the backend, but I can't see the client happening anytime soon.

@gnuplusmatt there's plenty of credible research - especially in the EU, - that dispels the idea that those things are desirable. Things like https://nextcloud.com/blog/european-governments-work-with-nextcloud-to-build-digitally-sovereign-office/ & https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Nagle-OSS-policy-brief-PDF.pdf & https://botpopuli.net/flying-the-kite-high-against-digital-colonialism-foss-in-the-era-of-edtech/ Decision maker who aren''t subject matter experts need to stop thinking they know better. @strypey @jppelt @GotNothing @fatboy

@adrinux It all!