No security or feature updates, but selling as “new.” I guess they need to switch to Linux if able…
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
Thirteen Chromebook models have met their death date since June 1 and won’t receive security updates or new features from Google anymore.
The US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) pointed this out in a press release Wednesday, sharing screenshots of the models:
The US PIRG’s release highlights eight ChromeOS devices from Asus, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung, all easily purchasable on Amazon despite their expirations.
The advocacy group’s latest release highlights how easy it is to buy expired laptops, which can lead to security threats, e-waste, and wasted money.
We have been tracking the specific Chromebook models listed in the June letter that recently expired this summer and were shocked to find them still for sale with no warnings.
Retailers need to make changes to protect customers, since Chromebook support expiration dates can be unclear if they’re not included on listing pages.
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You should be built into Lemmy. Posts would consist of link to original article and your summary
You know what’s really sick about Google not supporting these legacy Chromebooks?
Schools bought them in bulk for their students. Now they’re going to have to do it again. And obviously there is nothing actually wrong with them.
There should be a legal requirement to make documentation available for all unsupported Chromebooks to unlock the boot loader and allow for installing an alternative OS. Furthermore, they should be required to release engineering docs.
They should also be required to support it for X (exact time is up for debate) years after they stop selling it so you have some minimum amount of time that you know the device will be supported for no matter when you buy it.
And not just software vendors, but chip and board manufacturers with at least security fixes for at least the same length of time, but maybe like X+2 years to account for devices being released after the initial components
And Android and whatever else.
You want to lock down bootloaders and installed software while you’re supporting it? It depends on how you manage it how much I like or dislike it. But any software on a device you don’t support should automatically enter public domain and you should be required to unlock it.
@housepanther @Remontoire this but covering all devices
Agreed, though I thought that all ChromeOS devices could be bootloader unlocked.
That could very well be the case and I could be wrong. I kind of operated under the assumption that Chromebooks are heavily locked down.
I thought they were updated for 8 years.
In other notes, you can apparently install Linux on them ok.
I believe when Google lengthened their support period, it only applied to new models of Chromebooks, not already released ones.
Can’t you still load new versions of ChromeOS yourself?
I never liked the “forced upgrade of your OS” anyway. Not for windows or Chrome. It was annoying when ChromeOS kept forcefully insisting I upgrade my Linux when I already had Linux exactly how I wanted it.
I imagine the IT person at schools might not be thrilled at the prospect of updating all Chromebooks in the school manually. On some schools, the IT guy might be a teacher doing double duty and simply might not have enough time to do it manually. One of the main selling point of Chromebook is low maintenance after all.
On my C202 I’d have to open the case, remove a jumper screw, flash a custom BIOS…
I don’t even wanna do that on one Chromebook, never mind 20,000 of them.
Yeah it sounds like a goddamn nightmare.
