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This is an article on why you should stop using Chromebooks and ChromeOS products. I don't feel like anyone should be using Chrome in 2021, or want to use it, as every other modern web browser has succeeded Chrome on its many issues. Chrome has become the new Internet Explorer 6. It is time for the next browser to take over. This article will help you make your choice (if you haven't already) ChromeOS is an obstacle in this, as it is forced on many computers, and the majority of ChromeOS users and supporters aren't technically literate enough to switch to another device, see the problem, or install another system. It carries additional problems that you can't have with a regular Chrome application installation.
06.0 - Switching operating systems)
08.0 - Alternative operating systems
11.0 - Other things to check out
For other information about why Google Chrome is a problem, click here
Chromebooks are very cheap netbooks. They are not laptops, and they don't have the best functionality. Chromebooks are purchased because they cost between $90 and $300.00. The fact that is always overlooked is that you are not getting a good computer. Chromebooks have very little storage, and very little RAM. The operating system is just a web browser, and the system has no way of working with files offline. This makes Chromebooks not portable when you go off Wi-Fi or cellular data. You could still use them, but due to the inability to login or access your files (except for the 2 gigabytes of files you can keep on internal storage) there is very little you can do. Also, since you can't install fully functional programs like VLC media player, video and audio playback isn't great. (some fact checks are needed)
Chromebooks have very little freedom. You can't install other web browsers, and many standard computer programs. You can only use programs on the Internet.
Many schools and districts limit distractions by blocking the Chrome Dinosaur game (the game that is playable when there is no Internet connection) even worse, some school districts completely disable the inspect element option, greying it out, and preventing the viewing of source code of websites. This is highly unethical, as tinkering with this source code is how a lot of people gain an interest in computer science. You can still use inspect element with the F12 key if the right click method is blocked, but most Chromebooks don't have F1-F12 keys. Modifying this source code can also prevent the disabling of malicious website code.
ChromeOS is highly anti-competitive, and is bad for new computer users. Google is trying to make ChromeOS the dominant Linux distribution for desktops, and further forcing its Chrome browser to its users across other operating systems, along with ChromeOS and Android.
Chromebooks are intented for Internet usage only. Every program requires an Internet connection. Once the servers that you need to use go down, or become unusable due to their age, and once your Chromebook stops receiving updates after 2-3 years, your computer will no longer be usable.
Chromebooks cannot be sold at pawn shops, as they stop working after 2-3 years. Once you buy a chromebook, it drops significantly in value and never gains value. (extra source: Microsoft://Scroogled)
Chromeboxes are just very basic computer towers with ChromeOS installed. They are the same exact thing as a chromebook, except that the keyboard and screen have to be attached separately, which is just the difference between a laptop and a traditional desktop computer. They also have the same specs, and don't have the same power as a desktop computer. After 2-3 years, any computer from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, or 2000s will be more functional than your Chromebox, as they will still be able to work. Same with your chromebook.
Laptops are by default much more expensive than desktop computers, as the parts are miniaturized and more expensive. Instead of getting a chromebox, you should just buy a regular computer tower. They are cheaper, the same price, or more expensive, but far more functional.
Chromebits are dongles for ChromeOS devices. They plug into your TV and make your TV a ChromeOS device, as the Chromebit is a computer in dongle form.
Information for this section is incomplete
Information for this section is coming soon.
Chromebases are just desktop computers modified badly to run ChromeOS. Similar to a ChromeBox, except a monitor, and webcam are built in. This is also a waste, as a traditional desktop computer has more functionality and more freedom than a computer with a gigabyte of RAM, 2 gigabytes of disk space, and a ton of DRM and spyware.
The extra $20 to $50 is worth it to get a functional desktop computer with a different operatng system.
A Chromeblet is a low-end tablet running ChromeOS. It has much less functionality when compared to an Android tablet (such as a Samsung Note) or an iPad. This tablet is very low-end and has the specs of a tablet from 2009 with much less functionality.
Due to the low performance of ChromeOS devices compared to traditional desktop PCs and quantum computers, they are mainly a waste of Silicon.
Chromebooks isn't locked down as much as a Samsung phone, but it is still very difficult to get Linux on it. Windows will not run at all on a Chromebook, unless you were to heavily modify Windows Vista/7 or an earlier version (both of which are currently unsupported as of January 2020) (fact check might be needed for this paragraph)
ChromeOS is default on Chromebooks. ChromiumOS is open source and used for ChromeOS development, can be installed, but it is still Chrome. It is only slightly better, due to the fact that it is open source, and you can see a little more of what it is doing. It would still take a lot of work (possibly from a large team of people) to modify it enough to get Firefox or another browser running.
Any version of MacOS cannot run on Chromebooks at all. It is completely impossible without the MacOS/OS X Source code. This is to be expected, as Apple always makes their operating systems strictly run on their own hardware, and it requires extreme amounts of work to get it on computers with non-Apple based processors and ROM. (fact check needed for this paragraph)
Getting BSD to run on a Chromebook is -research needed
Getting Solaris/SunOS to run on a Chromebook is -research needed
Google is trying to dominate the Linux ecosystem with their operating systems. Android is already the most used operating system using Linux unfortunately, and ChromeOS is now aiming to become the most-used Linux desktop. This will make Linux look a lot worse due to the inferior power of any ChromeOS device, and it will further make people associate Linux as a Google product. Google has a bad habit of making open source systems but bloating them down further and further and restricting them until they are bad to use but impossible to get away from. Google is not contributing to Linux, they are trying to destroy it.
Extra note: if Microsoft were to retain Internet Explorers 90% marketshare (even down to 60%) in 2009, they would have also made a browser-based system. I don't really know how to make it sound good, I think in this alternate timeline, it would be called an InternetBook, an ExplorerBook, an IEBook, or something else. Both browsers have gone down the same path of making it much harder for web developers, and preventing new browsers from being created. Both Internet Explorer and Google Chrome ignore web standards.
Google has a very very bad record when it comes to user privacy. (I could go on and on with evidence of this, but it took a long time to find and go through all these articles)
Privacy on Chromebooks is very bad, as the system is always using at least 1 piece of spyware (ChromeOS)
No matter what you do, when you are using Chrome, all of your sensitive personal data is being sent to Google and others. Google has also been spotted going through open programs. For example, from personal experience (on Firefox) with a YouTube tab open that I didn't visit, I watched several videos offline (VLC Media Player) Later when I went to check the recommendations, it was nearly everything that I had watched. There is no doubt they are spying on other programs too.
In Chrome (and many other browsers) an incognito mode is present. In Chrome, this mode is pointless, as Google will still mine your data. Even if you turn data mining/tracking off, and enable the "do not track" signal, surprise suprise, Google is still mining your data.
Using DuckDuckGo to protect your privacy on Chrome only helps for what you search, but Google will still mine your data, so it isn't as effective.
If you think you have nothing to hide, you are absolutely wrong. This argument has been debunked many times over:
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Edward Snowden remarked "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. "When you say, ‘I have nothing to hide,’ you’re saying, ‘I don’t care about this right.’ You’re saying, ‘I don’t have this right, because I’ve got to the point where I have to justify it.’ The way rights work is, the government has to justify its intrusion into your rights."
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Daniel J. Solove stated in an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education that he opposes the argument; he stated that a government can leak information about a person and cause damage to that person, or use information about a person to deny access to services even if a person did not actually engage in wrongdoing, and that a government can cause damage to one's personal life through making errors. Solove wrote "When engaged directly, the nothing-to-hide argument can ensnare, for it forces the debate to focus on its narrow understanding of privacy. But when confronted with the plurality of privacy problems implicated by government data collection and use beyond surveillance and disclosure, the nothing-to-hide argument, in the end, has nothing to say."
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Adam D. Moore, author of Privacy Rights: Moral and Legal Foundations, argued, "it is the view that rights are resistant to cost/benefit or consequentialist sort of arguments. Here we are rejecting the view that privacy interests are the sorts of things that can be traded for security." He also stated that surveillance can disproportionately affect certain groups in society based on appearance, ethnicity, sexuality, and religion.
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Bruce Schneier, a computer security expert and cryptographer, expressed opposition, citing Cardinal Richelieu's statement "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged", referring to how a state government can find aspects in a person's life in order to prosecute or blackmail that individual. Schneier also argued "Too many wrongly characterize the debate as 'security versus privacy.' The real choice is liberty versus control."
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Harvey A. Silverglate estimated that the common person, on average, unknowingly commits three felonies a day in the US.
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Emilio Mordini, philosopher and psychoanalyst, argued that the "nothing to hide" argument is inherently paradoxical. People do not need to have "something to hide" in order to hide "something". What is hidden is not necessarily relevant, claims Mordini. Instead, he argues an intimate area which can be both hidden and access-restricted is necessary since, psychologically speaking, we become individuals through the discovery that we could hide something to others.
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Julian Assange stated "There is no killer answer yet. Jacob Appelbaum (@ioerror) has a clever response, asking people who say this to then hand him their phone unlocked and pull down their pants. My version of that is to say, 'well, if you're so boring then we shouldn't be talking to you, and neither should anyone else', but philosophically, the real answer is this: Mass surveillance is a mass structural change. When society goes bad, it's going to take you with it, even if you are the blandest person on earth."
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Ignacio Cofone, law professor, argues that the argument is mistaken in its own terms because, whenever people disclose relevant information to others, they also disclose irrelevant information. This irrelevant information has privacy costs and can lead to other harms, such as discrimination.
Google has been using ChromeOS to illegally spy on, monitor, and steal data from school students all around the world. There have already been many lawsuits, and they aren't going to stop until ChromeOS dies out completely.
If you own your own Chromebook, you should delete ChromeOS and install another Linux distribution. Unlike most Android devices (cough Samsung cough) Chromebooks don't have to be rooted to install another system, and aren't locked down (cough Samsung cough cough). You should delete ChromeOS and flash another Linux distribution on it. It will make your Chromebook over 10000x more functional, and it will allow you to do things other than web browsing.
WARNING: it is not legal to delete the software off of public computers from schools, banks, hospitals, etc. Even if the software is really bad, you can face severe punishments for modifying the software on devices that you don't own. This is not limited to: suspension (rare, you would normally get expelled, not suspended) expulsion, jail time, prison time, felonies, and misdemeanors.
Here are some recommended Linux distributions for your Chromebook/Chromebox
Linux distributions that are highly functional and compatible with all computer users.
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Fedora Linux - A Red-hat based Linux distribution by Red Hat and Oracle, highly stable but less popular than Ubuntu. Still very easy to use and very stable. Not as limited as Ubuntu. Uses GNOME 3 desktop environment by default, but can be switched to KDE, and others. New releases every ~6 months. No long term support.
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Ubuntu - A Debian based Linux distribution by Canonical, currently the most popular desktop Linux distribution (over 45% marketshare) and the easiest for new users. Very stable, but somewhat limited. Comes default with the GNOME desktop environment, criticized for some proprietary parts, an incident in 2012 regarding Amazon being bundled, and snap packages. New releases every 6 months, new long term support releases every 2 years.
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Kubuntu - Ubuntu, but with a MUCH lighter desktop environment (uses KDE instead of GNOME)
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Lubuntu - Ubuntu, but with a lighter desktop environment (uses LXQt instead of GNOME)
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Pop!OS - A Ubuntu distribution that is highly favorable. Made by System76, and also uses the GNOME desktop environment)
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Other (list incomplete)
Linux distributions that are extremely high functional, but require intermediate/advanced computer skills.
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Gentoo Linux - Requires a lot of compiling, very stable, but not the most popular (note: the low popularity doesn't make it bad)
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Manjaro Linux - Note: NOT ARCH based
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Arch Linux - Highly stable Linux distribution, just ignore the superiority complex of some users (mostly the ones that say "I use Arch btw")
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NixOS - For those who want to use Nix and NixOS packages. There are over 60000 packages for NixOS
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Other (list incomplete)
BSD is a different open source system that isn't based on Linux. Although not as popular, it is still good.
If you are looking for BSD on a Chromebook, you might want to do more research. It might be harder to get BSD to work on a Chromebook.
Research these BSD distributions:
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FreeBSD
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OpenBSD
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NetBSD
Any of these systems are still much harder to install on a Chromebook/Chromebox due to the added measures of preventing the system from getting deleted. It is still possible to delete ChromeOS/ChromiumOS.
In 2019, Google Chrome (along with ChromeOS and ChromiumOS) was updated. This update (v?) removed the ability to easily install adblocking extensions. You may think that ads are necessary for a site, but an ad blocker can act as an anti-virus in some cases. Many common popular sites (such as w3schools, pornhub, etc.) have malicious ads that can install malware on your computer just by visiting the site. Having an adblocker can prevent these malicious ads from loading.
With the block of ad blockers, you now can't get away from ads on Chrome/ChromeOS/ChromiumOS, even the ones that can give your computer ransomware. Malware isn't as common on ChromeOS/ChromiumOS, but it is still possible to get.
Google AMP (Originally Accelerated Mobile Pages) is a feature by Google that is killing the Internet. Any time you search with the Google search engine, you are going to an AMP site, which limits the revenue, viewcount, and other analytics for the sites you visit. Stop using AMP to support sites.
Google AMP is a modified version of the websites you are visiting that has Googles tracking embedded, and ads forced in. It is very unhealthy for the Internet.
The Google Graveyard (killedbygoogle.com) - a sorted list of the 224+ products Google has killed
Alphabet worker union - The new workers union at Google with over 800 members
Don't want to part with the dinosaur easter egg? This website has you covered
There are other alternates, just search for them.
Some fact checking is needed for this article
File type: Markdown (*.md)
File version: 1 (Sunday, February 7th 2021 at 6:57 pm)
Line count (including blank lines and compiler line): 355
All of my works are free from restrictions. DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) is not present in any of my works. This project does not contain any DRM
This sticker is supported by the Free Software Foundation. I never intend to include DRM in my works.
Version 1 (Sunday, February 7th 2021 at 6:57 pm)
Changes:
- Started the file/article
- Added the title section
- Referenced the ChromeOS icon
- Added a section about the price
- Added a section about privacy
- Added a section about the overview
- Added the article info section
- Referenced the DRM Free icon
- Added the file history section
- Added the freedom section
- Added the obsolescence section
- Added the variants section
- Added the Chromebox subsection
- Added the Chromebit subsection
- Added the Chromecast subsection
- Added the Chromebase subsection
- Added the Chromeblet subsection
- Added the switching operating systems section
- Added the alternative operating systems section
- Added the ad blocking section
- Added the AMP section
- Added the other things to check out section
- Added the index
- Added the footer
- No other changes in version 1
Version 2 (Coming soon)
Changes:
- Coming soon
- No other changes in version 2
You have reached the end of this file!
