The author knows why but dances around it. Chrome OS exists to harvest user data. Linux operating systems just exist.
I have a long enough beard that installing debian is as easy as a chrome netbook. It’s really no problem. I wish it was that easy for everyone but most people don’t “get it”
The author is suggesting that a distro that’s extremely locked down, reliable, and with very limited user choice would be desirable traits for mass adoption by non-tech enthusiasts.
There’d no reason that a community built version of that vision would have to include data harvesting as well.
I use Debian as well, but there’s an incredible amount of previous knowledge required to understand what its doing and how to set it up that experienced users take for granted. An innate curiosity and lack of fear of breaking things can make learning all that knowledge seem trivial to us, but to someone without those traits, it’s an impassable obstacle.
A mostly tech illiterate person being plopped in front of a Debian install would have to learn on the spot:
Huh, what’s this root password thing for?
Partitioning? What’s that mean? I guess I’ll select guided.
XFCE, KDE, cinnamon, gnome? What are those? Guess I’ll check them all.
Okay I’m logged in, ooh this is neat. How do I install something? Ah, a store! (Only if they happened to log into gnome or KDE), this app looks cool, let’s install that. Huh? I’m not in the sudoers file? What’s that? I just want to install an app! Ugh, this is way too nerdy for me. I’m done.
Oh no, my Windows is gone!
If we assume that they had figured out how to install software and continue to use it, there would be nothing to inform them their firewall is off, nor that they would need to install GUFW to configure it with a GUI.
All of that is trivial for us. We know much of the basic concepts already, know what sort of questions to ask and where to find trustworthy information, and don’t mind learning new things.
But for the tech illiterate, what we’re doing may as well be magic. A locked down, dumbed down experience is what they would feel comfortable with.
A lot of Linux distros don’t make money, I don’t think that’s a huge factor. A lack of interest so far is more likely (though I do recall there was a distro that was trying to be a 1 to 1 chromeOS replacement.
I just wanted to point out that us techies take a lot of our knowledge for granted, and it can be easy to lose perspective on what its like for tech illiterates.
Yeah, Linux is easy for me and you but the vast majority of people can’t even factory reset thier phone. I help them as much as I can but I’m not skilled enough to make software. I just don’t have the talent. Should someone make UnChome? Absolutely. Without a profit motive we are going to have to wait for some altruistic programmers to do it.
The author knows why but dances around it. Chrome OS exists to harvest user data. Linux operating systems just exist.
I have a long enough beard that installing debian is as easy as a chrome netbook. It’s really no problem. I wish it was that easy for everyone but most people don’t “get it”
The author is suggesting that a distro that’s extremely locked down, reliable, and with very limited user choice would be desirable traits for mass adoption by non-tech enthusiasts.
There’d no reason that a community built version of that vision would have to include data harvesting as well.
I use Debian as well, but there’s an incredible amount of previous knowledge required to understand what its doing and how to set it up that experienced users take for granted. An innate curiosity and lack of fear of breaking things can make learning all that knowledge seem trivial to us, but to someone without those traits, it’s an impassable obstacle.
A mostly tech illiterate person being plopped in front of a Debian install would have to learn on the spot:
Huh, what’s this root password thing for?
Partitioning? What’s that mean? I guess I’ll select guided.
XFCE, KDE, cinnamon, gnome? What are those? Guess I’ll check them all.
Okay I’m logged in, ooh this is neat. How do I install something? Ah, a store! (Only if they happened to log into gnome or KDE), this app looks cool, let’s install that. Huh? I’m not in the sudoers file? What’s that? I just want to install an app! Ugh, this is way too nerdy for me. I’m done.
Oh no, my Windows is gone!
If we assume that they had figured out how to install software and continue to use it, there would be nothing to inform them their firewall is off, nor that they would need to install GUFW to configure it with a GUI.
All of that is trivial for us. We know much of the basic concepts already, know what sort of questions to ask and where to find trustworthy information, and don’t mind learning new things.
But for the tech illiterate, what we’re doing may as well be magic. A locked down, dumbed down experience is what they would feel comfortable with.
Well cool. Get with the author and do the work. Make the UnChromeOS
I’m just pointing out WHY it doesn’t exist. No one cares and no one can make money from it.
A lot of Linux distros don’t make money, I don’t think that’s a huge factor. A lack of interest so far is more likely (though I do recall there was a distro that was trying to be a 1 to 1 chromeOS replacement.
I just wanted to point out that us techies take a lot of our knowledge for granted, and it can be easy to lose perspective on what its like for tech illiterates.
Yeah, Linux is easy for me and you but the vast majority of people can’t even factory reset thier phone. I help them as much as I can but I’m not skilled enough to make software. I just don’t have the talent. Should someone make UnChome? Absolutely. Without a profit motive we are going to have to wait for some altruistic programmers to do it.