More or less, yes.
Germany and France have been trying this for more than two decades.
But every time, there is pressure from the US government (the stick) and Microsoft arranges a short-term deal to make Windows cheaper than the cost of transitioning (the carrot).
But this time, the EU is serious about decoupling from the US, so I think it will actually happen.
Economic mobility is usually determined by things like IQ, EQ and other marketable skills. So I don’t really know if your proposal is the right way to measure it. But such data would at least give some insight.
In the USA, most research I have seen says they have low economic mobility, because the rich have access to the best schools, etc.
But still, it’s not zero. Both JD Vance and AOC are examples of economic mobility.
One of them still fights (or appears to fight) for the class they came from, the other is successfully recruited to serve the interests of the ruling class.
Were they born in 1908 (and ignoring race and gender for the moment), then probably both of them would have been leaders for the working class.
True, but nowadays most people don’t work in factories.
The modern equivalent would be the cashiers of Walmart and the baristas of Starbucks.
Correct, but there is a lot of nuance.
Indeed, when things get bad, the public is willing to take risks. When everything is good enough, they don’t revolt.
However, successful revolts do require intelligent and capable leaders.
What the rich have realized, is that if they ensure smart and skilled kids get picked out of the drudgery and get comfortable working for the rich, then the exploited class will not really have anyone to lead them.
Put another way, in 1908, every factory had a few leaders working at the lowest levels. And they are the ones who spearheaded strikes and such.
Nowadays, society is really stratified in terms of skill.
Anyone who grew up poor, but had talent to organize, probably ended up in some kind of middle management or professional job and makes 2x the average.
Convincing these people to have class solidarity is difficult. Only a few of them actually see the bigger. Those tend to become middle or upper management or politicians, making 3-5x the average workers salary. And of those, only a very select few are willing to fight for the common man.
So yeah, the rich engineered a system that they can control. To actually change anything is going to be very difficult.
That’s what they’re trying to do.
It makes most sense to switch the email+office users to Linux and reserve MacOs and Windows for users who really need to run specific applications.