A) many people use Crouton, so there's no centralized control AT ALL. Even if they don't, the only centralized control is over what version of Chrome you're running, and OPTIONALLY whether you're allowed to log in to the device, what your preferences were, and what windows you have open.
B) there's no fine-grained tracking built right in. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. You have the source code to Chromium available to you, please provide evidence. If you believe the visible source code was augmented to add tracking, prior to being installed on the device, then it should be relatively easy to show a Wireshark log demonstrating the fine-grained tracking you speak of.
If you're just going to install a Linux distro doesn't that defeat the point?
I thought the whole idea of chromebook was that you used google services rather than locally installed apps. So yes, inherently more tracking since they want to monetise ads.
> If you're just going to install a Linux distro doesn't that defeat the point?
It doesn't defeat the point for the buyer, since its often the most cost-effective way to get basic hardware for a linux laptop.
It doesn't defeat the point for the hardware vendor.
Heck, it doesn't really even defeat the point for Google. Sure, it may not be as good for them as you using ChromeOS, but its better for them than you either using Windows or MacOS (or paying for Windows or MacOS to get a Linux box.)
The intended method of use is Chrome OS, there will be geeks who buy it as a cheap Linux laptop but that's not really the target market or how they are mostly used.
The idea of the chromebook is to move away from native apps that run on your computer to cloud apps where your computer serves as mainly a front end to google's datacenter.
Please offer a shred of evidence that buying a Chromebook exposes you to client-side or server-side tracking, other than ChromeOS updates, and the OPTIONAL log-in system with preferences and opened web pages.
B) there's no fine-grained tracking built right in. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. You have the source code to Chromium available to you, please provide evidence. If you believe the visible source code was augmented to add tracking, prior to being installed on the device, then it should be relatively easy to show a Wireshark log demonstrating the fine-grained tracking you speak of.