Protesters say Chromebooks stop working too soon
Activists demand Google add more software support
Consumer protection activists gathered Tuesday afternoon outside the Cambridge offices of tech titan Google to demand that the company make its popular Chromebook laptops last longer, by providing additional years of software support for the machines.
Chromebooks are hugely popular in public education, with millions in use nationwide. According to nonprofit political action group US PIRG, Chromebook manufacturers such as Asus, Acer, and Lenovo sold 31 million Chromebooks in 2020 alone, as students switched to remote learning during the COVID pandemic lockdown.
But US PIRG said that Google stops providing operating system updates for Chromebooks years too early. Many new units will receive up to eight years of updates. But a school with older Chromebooks, or a school that purchases used refurbished machines, may find they have only a few years left.
When this happens, the Chromebooks may no longer be capable of running some programs, which will only work on machines with up-to-date software. For instance, in Massachusetts, public school MCAS exam software won’t run on Chromebooks with outdated operating systems. This forces schools to purchase new Chromebooks, even if the machines are still in good shape.
“That’s just causing a huge problem for our environment,” said Lucas Rockett
Gutterman, director of US PIRG’s Designed to Last campaign. “We can’t be throwing out laptops that work just because a deadline has passed.”
Gutterman called for Google to support Chromebooks with operating system updates for 10 years, and urged hardware manufacturers to make the machines easier to repair and upgrade. He also expressed support for right-to-repair legislation now pending in the State House. A bill sponsored by Senator Michael Brady would require computer makers to sell replacement parts and provide instructions to let individuals and organizations fix their own machines.
“We’ve worked diligently with our hardware partners to increase the
years of guaranteed support Chromebooks receive, and since 2020, we now provide eight years of automatic updates, up from five years in 2016,” said a statement issued by Google. “We also are always working with our device manufacturing partners to increasingly build devices across segments with post-consumer recycled and certified materials that are more repairable, and over time use manufacturing processes that reduce emissions.”