They say use whatsapp, they say use zoom

Oh, wait until you get a job in most offices. Microsoft, Microsoft everywhere.

BYOD with Linux? "We can't install the company's spyware on it, get that security risk out of here."

When you're supporting ten thousand machines on four continents and confirming to twenty different data protection doctrines the last thing you need is some neckbeard rocking up demanding to store data in their unauditable homebrew fork of Haiku or some shit.
- What is achieved with GPOs and agents is compliance, not security.
  In other words, company issued devices don't protect the data, but they ensure conformity with relevant regulations and standards. Which is what most organisations actually care about.
  Many good IT people really do care about actual information security, but not those in charge.
  The result are devices that hinder some people's work but provide questionable actual security.
I mean they're not wrong, BYOD is an absolutely ginormous attack vector.
- If an organisations' security relies on the end device configuration there is no security.
- For the user or the company? Assuming the user isn't a moron with computers?
  Edit: guess im out of the loop as a contractor who generally only does BYOD with my linux machine
- Im all for privacy and obviously working where you want to but like really? Your unwilling to take a position if the desktop/laptop you use only for work doesn't have an OS that's acceptable? Regardless of pay/perks/etc you wouldn't take a position where everything is perfect except you have to use their specified OS? This is genuine curiosity hopefully this doesn't come accross as me trying to say I doubt you or your not entitled to your opinions but I just don't get it, curious to understand why. What industry do you work in? It makes sense if a certain OS could make your job harder but I would be more worried about being able to use software that I want rather than OS at least at my current position.
- What if their OS choices aren't insane?
Look! A Linux user! SCATTER, BEFORE HE CATCHES YOU!!

I am so looking forward to my daughters to become students. Definitely going to discuss this topic through with every person I have to. I am so not going to use WhatsApp or whatever similar software again. If there’s no other solution, they can call me or write a letter :D

Yeah but if you don't have brightwheel or seesaw or whatever the fuck, you won't be getting important notifications. They only only call when you're late for pickup or your kid shit so bad you have to take them home. Some of these are tied to billing as well. Don't want to use My School Bucks? No aftercare or cafeteria breakfast/lunch. Sack lunch only.
It's a huge pain but in many cases there's no way around it.
I'm aware the original subject matter of this post is different, but the walled garden apps that you have to use no matter what start as soon as they enter preschool
- I don’t know any of these apps and I don’t know if they are used in Europe too, but if I really have to use some of these apps (and I understand that can absolutely happen), there will be an old/cheap phone laying around with these apps installed, they won’t be on my primary phone.
In Europe Whatsapp is the default messaging system. Everything else is cumbersome. Sure Signal is better but only like 3 people have it.
- Do what I did and send a message to everyone you care about saying "deleting whatsapp and switching to signal" or something like this.
  It's also a good way to weed out people who aren't important in your life, I.e people who care about you will most likely install signal to keep in touch.
- Telegram is the best. Whatsapp copies everything from it.
/subscribe

Just wait until you enter the workforce and your company gives you a locked down work computer.

The joys of getting special permission from the IT department so that you can install a browser other than the ancient version of Internet Explorer (no, not Edge) that came preloaded.

I am going to physics feild and hopefully I will use linux there(NASA does)
Much better than having to use my own devices.
- Absolutely. I'm convinced that any company that asks employees to use their own devices simply doesn't understand cybersecurity.
  Best case would be giving employees a choice of hardware and software from a list of compatible products, but of course that's expensive and more work for the business so it seldom happens.
I’m going through this after my work was bought out. They forced us onto their locked down computers, and they’re so locked down we literally can’t do our work on it. Execs are trying to come up with a solution, thankfully at least for now they’ve gotten corporate to agree to let us use our old laptops until they do. I think mostly because we’re extremely high value low cost, so if we’re not working, they’re losing a lot of money.

Such a waste of public resources, to not develop (or fund) free and open tools for everyone, instead of paying for temporary licenses for closed software.

Public money public code

Yeah some of my University classes mandated the use of this "Lockdown Browser" last year. Pretty sure it's just spyware that, conveniently, can render HTML

It's actually a rootkit on Windows which is the worst part.

Ok, but this is reality, and in reality schools don't give a fuck about these subjects, third world country schools at least.
- Btw oficially, in my state, schools use their own forked version of ubuntu (KITE Ubuntu), spevifically designed for school use and has foss programs installed and syllabus teaches only that. But still, since the online class started in 2020, google meet, whatsapp and all of them are "required" by students. The problem is that none of the schools or teachers actually knows why "free software only" in schools were introduced
- They don't give a fuck in first world schools as well

What's easier from the teacher/teachers representative, use 1 widely distributed app, or download 100 different messaging programs/interfaces and make sure every student knows the proper channels to contact every other student?

There will always be someone unhappy, let's try to keep that from being the person who has to do this dance day in and out for the rest of their underfunded lives?

Fine, use one app but make it the Free Software one, then.
Regardless, it is completely unreasonable to dictate that people consent to onerous third-party corporate terms of service in order to access government services, especially ones enforced by truancy laws!
- And from their perspective, these requirements change every day!
  They want something convenient
There will always be someone unhappy, but let's make them unhappy with mild annoyances and not serious privacy violations. I'd rather prefer the Whatsapp users to be unhappy than the Signal users. In a long run it's doing them a favor.
I want to agree Meta's terms of service to get education?
Schools should use a free software messenger instead so that no one is forced to run untrusted apps on their device.
Ours just use email
100 different messaging programs/interfaces
It's like four or five. We did this back in the late 90s. Some people used AIM. Some used Yahoo Messenger. Some used ICQ. And some used MSN. We survived.
It was such a common thing that multi-protocol clients like Trillian were popular.
- You really want your teachers to read your cryptic emo away messages on written with papyrus?
- We survived
  Reach for the stars!

For me it's family and friends wich refuse to switch from whatsapp to signal for example

Fuck WhatsApp. All my homies use Signal.
- Sadly all my homies still use WhatsApp. So it's though for me to switch.
They don't even have to switch just install it, I have multiple clients for different people and it doesn't really effect me negatively other than remembering what to message people on
- Sadly my friends won't even do that. Don't know about family but knowing them they also probably won't. I expect rhem to not even understand why i want to switch

At the place I work at, we all are given Azure Virtual Desktops, which we use for everything. I'm working remotely from another country, so there is damned input lag too. Copy/paste, any data transfer is disabled too.

The worst part is we need to use "Remote Desktop" app to connect to our VMs, and it is available for EVERY platform except linux. Like they got browser client, windows, mac os, android, iOS. BUT NOT FOR LINUX. So I use VirtualBox to open windows machine, and use that to connect to VM.

This is sad :(

You could try out the Remmina Linux client's RDP plugin.
- wow. I'll look into this, but last time I tried, that VM discovery thing made it unavailable to setup on linux. The remote desktop app shows available VMs after you authenticate with MS account. This most likely is done deliberately to prevent us from using linux.

My son's school created an MS account for him, for christ's sake! In 1st grade...
- What the fuck

Decentralised solutions will never be broadly accepted. People care about comfort and ease to use and centralized companies wiill always have the edge in this.

I don't necessarily need decentralised solutions. I just need free software solutions. There is much comfort and ease in apps like signal
What about when being centralized allows the quality of the product to suffer?

But you have to setup a custom synapse bridge for element right ? Or did you find public servers ?

To work or study at my Univ, you have to give your phone number to Microsoft for the 2fa. They pay shitload of money for Office 365 and they are almist forcing us to use that stupid suite. This year I will give an special course on FOSS alternative to my students. Fuck that bullshit hail corporate.