How is it better than (x)?

[2cool4me4]

Our school has begun to get the ball rolling on a 1:1 laptop initiative, but it's rolling the wrong way! They want to get Chromebooks, but I see them as a $250 installation of Google Chrome (except without the app manager, which Ubuntu has Landscape for). We can get a $250 AMD laptop and put Ubermix on it, and have everything that the Chromebooks have and more. I've shown the school's IT guy Ubermix. I'm slowing the ball down to move it in the right direction, but it might as well be a boulder!

Is there anything else I can pitch to him to show him that Ubermix is better than a Chromebook for an education standpoint?

[jnetman1]

I've written a couple of blog posts on this topic, one general "Why ubermix?" post that compares to both Chromebooks and iPads here: http://blog.ubermix.org/2013/01/why-ubermix.html and one specifically targeted at Chromebooks here: http://www.jimklein.org/2013/02/thoughts-on-chromebooks.html. Lots of ammunition there.

Might also be worth visiting an ubermix school in your area, if at all possible. There is a list of schools/districts that use ubermix here: http://wiki.ubermix.org/page/Schools

[2cool4me4]

Well, it looks like it's over. I've lost. Next year, it's going to be Chromebooks because of their ease of management and cheap cost. Also, the school owns Google Docs accounts for all of the students, so that's probably a factor. I've tried to tell the IT person things about how the Chromebooks are limited and the web isn't full of rich applications yet (a direct quote from one of your blog posts), but he doesn't think that that is a factor. I actually sent a message straight to the Superintendent.  I am a student at the top of the class. Most students just want something that can get them online really fast. They don't care what's under the hood or anything like that. They don't have ambitions that extend outside of what they are doing in their classes (okay, okay. Maybe he didn't say that exactly...). So I came here to say that it is likely over. I enjoyed the vision of Ubermix in the classroom while it lasted.

I just wanted to say; I figured that my fight was pointless from the start.

[jnetman1]

Hey, don't give up. Do you know what kind of Chromebooks they are getting? As long as they aren't Samsung, you might still be able to ubermix. See http://blog.ubermix.org/2013/02/a-look-at-ubermix-on-acer-c7-chromebook.html. Should work on any Intel Chromebook. Eventually, they might even figure it out on their own.

[2cool4me4]

We are getting the Samsung ones, because they are cheap and have long battery life.

EDIT: Are there any applications that give the management options that Chrome OS has? If I can find that, I may have another chance.

ANOTHER EDIT: I am pretty sure that it's time to give up now. His arguments are that we need something that is easy for him to install apps on remotely, that kids are impatient and need something that boots in seconds, and that they need something that's extremely easy to use. I am at the top of my class rank and am good with computers, so he won't listen to any of my arguments.