20240113-learning_monopolies.txt

So I'm actually rewriting this on 20240914. I accidentally overwrote
it trying to modify it. This will be significantly different from the
original post, but the gist is the same.

My relative signed up for a distance learning class. She has a
Chromebook and nothing else. No big deal: the class just uses a
web-based learning management system (LMS) in Blackboard (BB), IIRC.
Everything should work.

Nope. What? How do you screw up a web-based LMS so that you need
fucking Windows or Mac to use some of the required tools? It's
ridiculous. I basically told her to contact the college to see if they
could figure something out, but I was still floored at how stupid it
was that the website didn't work completely on a Chromebook. Chrome is
the most popular browser by far, but BB can't figure out how to
program regular JS. This is ludicrous.

The university I attended used to use BB as their LMS, too, but that
was over a decade ago. Now they use Canvas. I don't know if it's any
better or worse. But I do think it's rather ridiculous.

People, we used to grade assignments and do schoolwork without the
Internet at all. It should NOT take a fucking bloated OS just to
assign and turn in assignments. Every modern OS can handle AV, too.
What are they doing? Even SDF, a pubnix with a CLI/TUI interface, can
do remote learning.

But I was beyond annoyed that I had to tell her that she had to talk
to the campus people because there is legitimately no good reason her
Chromebook can't handle anything in a teaching course. Fuck off with
that OS-dependent bull shit.

It's just kind of sickening that even learning via the "free" Internet
is beholden to big companies. BB isn't necessarily bad, but come on.
Keep it simple. Stop using commercial LMSes.