Catalyst IT, with all it's open source philosophy, and its contract for PACT, and it's support of Mahara .. you think they'd have the foresight to push for Linux based laptops in schools over MS/Google captive-ware.

The thing is, the NZ government is known for legally domestically spying on all of you (I was there during the GCHQ protest, where John Key and Parliament retroactively changed the law to make domestic spying on Kim Dotcom legal). Chromebooks are all about spying on students and setting them up with Google accounts at a very young age (All schools monitor students in the US. It's insane). Win 11 will push the same with MS accounts. Under the covers, school systems probably want this, because it allows an insane amount of control and privacy violations.

Students and parents should have the option to opt out of both.