The dumb thing is it's just using locked down android with some tweaks.

So they could pretty easily just loosen some of the locks that shouldn't have existed in the first place and let you still use it.

Edit: I'm curious on the viability of getting a custom build on there. It would be cool if the community found a way to get these supported for the schools/organizations who are willing/able to deal with open source if that's the only option, and interested parties could get their hands on the abandoned ones cheap. I'd definitely be interested in a slightly janky smart board.

I wonder if sufficient community backlash could at least pressure Google to make the process more reasonable, like it did with Chromebooks getting longer support.