YHK - yet another hacker news clone

Google breaks promise to provide 10 years of updates to Chromebooks

105 points speckx 1 hour ago 42 comments

jqpabc123 1 hour ago | parent

Since when has Google ever been trustworthy?

This is just standard operating procedure. Remember --- "Don't be Evil".

zoobab 1 hour ago | parent

The solution: legislate.

BLKNSLVR 15 minutes ago | parent

Exactly.

It's getting to be that nothing can be trusted. Even legislation, if it's not enforced.

mbeavitt 1 hour ago | parent

For anyone currently owning a Chromebook and worrying about this:

https://docs.mrchromebox.tech

theodric 49 minutes ago | parent

FWIW, my C13 Yoga (Morphius) runs full-fat Linux significantly better than it ever ran ChromeOS

easyThrowaway 1 hour ago | parent

Are the people who made the promise even still at Google?

It reminds me of those sketchy companies on Amazon promising "lifetime guarantee" on their products when they know already they're gonna close shop and reopen on a completely different brand the very next year.

Kinrany 31 minutes ago | parent

If those people made the promise on behalf of Google while working there and being in a position to make such promises, it's Google's problem now.

(If they _weren't_ in said position, it's still Google's problem but with some caveats provided Google actually treats it as abuse of authority.)

AdmiralAsshat 56 minutes ago | parent

Google: What are you gonna do? Sue us?

rkozik1989 52 minutes ago | parent

You can take mega corporations to small claims court and you're often not worth their time so they'll just settle.

dathinab 41 minutes ago | parent

if you are a school or similar which ordered a large stack of them in the last two years then yes, especially if multiple such organizations join together on a legal case.

In the end "help with migration to" isn't the same supporting the existing product.

And if you advertised a product with 10 year support that _is_ legally binding (in the EU) and a clear cut case of you losing around 10-20% of the advertised value.

Given that legal costs might be to some degree covered by legal insurance and it being a clean cut case this is likely worth the money. But also a case where google can "just settle and not care" as in many cases schools did more things like forcing parents to buy chrome books then buying them themself, so it's unlikely to amass any relevant damage amount for Google.

More funny would be if the judge rules "10 years promised? You are cable of delivering 10 years?! You have to deliver it! And for all chrome books bought [8;10[ years before the deadline not just the suing party".

pjmlp 36 minutes ago | parent

Thing is, not every country in the world is trigger happy with lawsuits like in US, so there is a very high chance it goes nowhere, depending on the jurisdiction.

Likewise many legal insurances have footnotes regarding how far they are actually going to support you in a claim process.

sokoloff 23 minutes ago | parent

> In the end "help with migration to" isn't the same supporting the existing product.

I don't know that that's clearly true. Apple gives at least 5 to 7 years of updates past the last sale date for computers. (I don't know if this is an explicit promise or not; they have an explicit hardware support for 5 years and limited support for vintage [5-7 years old] equipment.)

I don't think I get to demand 5 years of support for specifically Sonoma or Tahoe on that equipment, but rather just N years of "some usable version of an OS and support to transition to it".

Replacing ChromeOS with GooglebookOS 8 years from now seems not that different from replacing Tahoe with Golden Gate.

The other alternative could be "we still support ChromeOS for 10 years, and will release security patches for all critical vulnerabilities that we find and fix after 2034" (but we might privately not look that hard for them...)

motionlessveloc 55 minutes ago | parent

The actual update:

> ChromeOS devices will continue to receive regular updates and security patches through mid-2034. For qualifying devices purchased today whose 10-year support lifecycle extends beyond 2034, Google is committed to supporting your transition to Googlebook OS, with many devices offering direct migration paths.

In other words, support will be offered until 2034. if you're buying a new Chromebook today and intend to keep it for longer than 8 years, you're doing so at your own risk.

salviati 52 minutes ago | parent

Directly after the passage you quote:

> Google promised 10 years of updates for all Chromebooks, and it’s now breaking that promise for anyone buying a Chromebook between now and whenever the last Chromebook rolls off the production line

So, they're changing the promise from now on, and not breaking it for past users. Doesn't sound like they're breaking their promise to me.

Kwpolska 15 minutes ago | parent

They are breaking the promise for people who bought a Chromebook between 2024 and 2026.

silon42 55 minutes ago | parent

The only reason I'd consider buying a Chromebook is to install Linux on it... Same is true for Googlebook.

pphysch 54 minutes ago | parent

So it's as low as 8 years instead of 10 for models purchased in the last 2 years (2034 being the cutoff), with those few devices being covered by a separate commitment to transfer them to GoogleOS by 2034.

Pretty lame detail to be enraged about, but it is Google and this is HN. This aligns with Apple's timeline for killing Intel MacBook support after releasing Apple Silicon (2029 being the last commitment).

wat10000 34 minutes ago | parent

Buying something that promises 10 years of updates and then having them turn around and say "lol just kidding you get 8" is pretty enraging.

Lining up with Apple is meaningless. Apple didn't promise updates for a longer period and then pull back.

jezzamon 54 minutes ago | parent

Discussed a lot here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49893653

Seems to be more reasonable than this title suggests?

Some comments: "So they have introduced a major change and said any older Chromebooks bought going forward will only get 8. So its not a retrospective reduction for existing customers." (Edit: actually I think this comment is wrong, if you bought a Chromebook 1 year ago, you'd only get 9 years of ChromeOS updates)

"From my understanding of the article, it sounds like ChromeOS support is getting pared back for those devices, but the devices themselves should still be supported, albeit via a (planned but not yet in existence) migration path to GooglebookOS."

hedora 42 minutes ago | parent

These devices are usually bought on contract, with lots of lock in.

In particular, there are lots of schools getting screwed over financially. Maybe they’ll switch vendors, or use the money for education. Chromebook spending has a strong negative correlation with educational performance.

As a parent, I am supposed to have control over my kids’ personal information, but the schools firehose all the most sensitive kids’ info they have to an unlawful marketing firm that I do not trust. How do I opt out?

wat10000 39 minutes ago | parent

Surely those contracts specify whatever the schools need.

hdgvhicv 28 minutes ago | parent

> How do I opt out?

Through your government. Maybe you could form a union strong enough but unlikely as you face more to lose than them.

eitally 24 minutes ago | parent

Education contracts do not allow Google to use customer data for advertising.

shevy-java 15 minutes ago | parent

But they still store the data.

_blk 11 minutes ago | parent

Homeschool, vote for free school choice, vote for getting the subsidized funds to where you actually send your kids. Solves most problems related to bad school policies.

robertlagrant 4 minutes ago | parent

> or use the money for education

Totally agree. Would love far fewer computers in schools.

wat10000 36 minutes ago | parent

Isn't it retrospective to all customers who purchased in the last 2 years? They're not saying a Chromebook bought yesterday gets 10 years but one bought tomorrow only gets 8. They're saying they all end in 2034. If you bought one yesterday expecting 10 years of updates, you got screwed.

bryanlarsen 34 minutes ago | parent

They're saying that you'll have to switch from ChromeOS to GoogleOS to keep getting updates for the full 10 years.

wat10000 30 minutes ago | parent

"All Chromebook platforms will get regular automatic updates for 10 years"

Are they going to make the switch automatic? It sure doesn't sound like the sort of transition that can be done automatically.

jezzamon 17 minutes ago | parent

Yeah I think you're right.

shevy-java 15 minutes ago | parent

Could you clarify what you mean with reasonable here?

static_motion 49 minutes ago | parent

Is anyone surprised at this? Abandoning products in an untimely fashion is their specialty. I've never bought a hardware product from them for that reason, except for a 2nd gen Chromecast which was something whose longevity I didn't care too much about.

hbn 39 minutes ago | parent

My pet theory with this move from Chromebooks to Googlebooks is simply that Chromebooks have a major stink on their entire brand reputation, especially in the younger generation that went through school with terrible cheap (and likely used/damaged) Chromebooks being given to them for schoolwork.

I think if you say "Chromebook" around most 20-something and unders, they have an instant negative association with the word.

ocd 7 minutes ago | parent

I guess it's true this could be their AOL disc.

orbital-decay 37 minutes ago | parent

>Stuff like this should not be legal.

Alternatively, if users want legally binding contracts they should not treat promises as such.

soulofmischief 28 minutes ago | parent

I can't be the only one who thinks Googlebook is the least appealing name I may have ever heard for a hardware product.

threethirtytwo 25 minutes ago | parent

Stuff like this should not be legal?

Isn’t it illegal? It’s actual false advertising. You can sue them, it’s just no one has.

shevy-java 16 minutes ago | parent

Good thing I did not trust Google 10 years ago either.

What we see here is a strategic shift by Google; you need to connect this here, with the prior Google strategy of no longer open sourcing Android-related stuff or with a huge delay. This is not an isolated thing - Google is planning Evil again, as usual.

mococa 12 minutes ago | parent

Not sure why people still trust on big corps...

fouc 8 minutes ago | parent

[delayed]