Personally, I guess that you learn more the more issues you have. MacOS is a more closed down ecosystem compared to Windows, malware is less popular and as hardware comes usually bundled with the OS, you shouldn't encounter as many driver or hardware issues in general.
As a kid I had so much trouble with incompatible software, viruses, adware, drivers, broken hardware etc. And as I had noone to ask, it tought me a lot about the fundamentals of IT and how to research such issues myself.
At risk of going off topic, I don’t like Twitter posts like this:
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Both users ‘verified,’ essentially paying for more engagement, but with no actual “verification” like community mods tagging users.
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In your face engagement metrics all over the posts, as if that’s all that matters. Not even a user “poll” like Lemmy/Reddit or Mastadon/Facebook.
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Hiding most replies other than the most algorithmically engaging ones.
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Posted as a screenshot, unfortunately necessary as they essentially broke Nitter and it’s nigh unusable unless logged in.
I don’t like that the Twitter format is kinda the center of the social media universe, and seemingly staying that way now that we basically voted to back it with the US govt.
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Hey! 🙋 I'm an autistic person (diagnosed at age 3). I grew up using Mac computers mostly, because my father preferred them for his work. Although I would encounter Windows a lot when I was at school as well. However, I didn't really know how to use Windows until I started seeing videos on YouTube about it (such as this one). This was when I was around 10. So I started experimenting with different editions of it (Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows XP, etc.) via a pirated copy of Parallels Desktop. I also found out about Linux, and toyed with Ubuntu with a bit via Parallels. I found it fun, and thus considered the idea of installing Linux properly onto my Macbook. Unfortunately, the trackpad support wasn't there. So for my 11th birthday, I asked for a "Windows laptop", and immediately after getting it, I set up some dual-boot with Windows 10 and some fork of Ubuntu called "Pinguy OS". (I spent way too much time looking at DistroWatch.) Then, I distro-hopped for a bit until I finally settled on Void Linux when I was 13. I'm now 18 and am running Void full-time on my current laptop, it doesn't even have a Windows partition. :)
So here's a teacher's insight:
Mac:PC:Chromebook Rich---Poor
There is a very strong correlation between the wealth of the kids on my module, and the device they have.
Mac users really struggle to understand the concept of local files without being shown. PC users, alas, snort too much SharePoint these days to be considered healthy - trying to save a word document locally these days is like climbing a mountain blindfolded. As for the Chromebook kids, they do their best with what they have, and given how little compatibility those devices have with the software I teach, I'm proud of them.
I've been a dev for 7 years. I used a PC for the first 6 years and I switched to a mac the last year.
My experience with mac has been terrible. The file explorer is just horrible to navigate. It took me ages to find the way to go anywhere except the "favorite" folders. Compability with the remote linux-servers has been awful with broken keymappings and shortcuts. Using hardware from any other manifacturer is riddled with bugs. The machine is unable to adjust volume if the audio is passed through usb-c. And I routinely encounter bugs where I'm unable to interact with apps until I restart them. Everything which seemed to work by heuristics on a PC requires a lot of attention on my mac. I don't care if I get a floaty animation and bouncy icon if I minimize a window. I just want alt + tab to actually bring back the apps I select.
I am not getting a mac the next time.
Where're all the DOS kids at?! 5 hours and 66 comments, but not a single mention yet.
Never mind solving problems with Windows; shit gets real when the thing boots to a
C:\>prompt and you need to know things like the difference between CGA/EGA/VGA/Hercules graphics modes and WTF an IRQ is just to install your games in the first place.Children use smartphones way more than "PC" computers today.
This schism exists in my household. Mrs. Warp Core had access to a Mac and went on to do non-computer things. I had a PC and went full-ASD/ADHD HAM on (what feels like) every iteration of commercial computer tech ever since.
My elementary school had those chunky, colorful iMac G3s that I played hella coolmathgames on. At home we had an old Compaq desktop with Windows 2000 (later XP).
I never learned anything useful except general computer literacy but I sure do miss those days.
"Autistic children will be discluded from the study for skewing results"
"Autism involves a significant deviation from expected behaviour"
They have played us for absolute fools.
(I know autism describes a real cluster of traits, but it is only socially constructed norms that define those traits as aberrant, I am not saying it isn't real)
Where does TRS-80 fit into this study?
I used an Apple IIe in 1st grade. With the big 5.25in floppys. Learned logo and figured out how to make spirograms using recursive patterns.
Much later we got a Dell P90 and win 95 before going through the rest of windows releases up through win 7. I figured out Linux in high school at some point, but that’s more of a hobby from time to time.
But also used os/7/8/9 at school and later switched to Mac in general.
When I was 13 I installed Linux in Virtualbox on a Mac because for some reason thought dual booting would be harder, we did not have any non-apple devices in the house, I do not recommend, the performance was terrible (I probably had something set up wrong because it was really way worse than you would expect)
I have ended up on Windows with a Linux laptop for traveling, but will probably switch to Linux as soon as either:
- I get a new VR headset
- Monado gets decent controller tracking support
- It's 2026 and Windows with WMR support has stopped getting security updates
Then I will have crossed the whole mac->windows->linux pipeline.
I feel attacked !
Or seen. same difference.
Linux users should be included. After all they switched OS being they couldn't understand how image formatting works.
Um. VAX cluster?
Ah crud, I installed Linux on my computer when I was 12 (replacing MacOS, no less).
Well the economy is what rips you off to make companies money, so its actually one of the more honest usages I've seen
I dunno, maybe it depends on the age. I grew up with a G3 PowerPC and system 9, and I did spend a little time with early OSX (panther). My schools had these terrible Athlon boxes that could barely run XP without blowing up, and as I was leaving high school they were trying to get them to run Vista. That gave me the early impression that Macs were just better, until I went to a vocational school with Ivy Bridge Dell laptops running Windows 7. A friend of mine convinced me to try Linux, and I was impressed with how much easier it was to set up for development, but I ultimately stuck with Windows hosts for gaming, and Linux VMs, then Docker, then WSL for development. I'm still trying to put in the work now for moving away from Windows entirely now that AI is here and gaming on Linux is better. I think maybe it might just come down to having the resources, because if I got to try all three with at least decent hardware, I would have made that journey a lot faster.
Too bad correlation does not imply causation.
I installed my first Linux distro in my country's equivalent of high school, probably 17 years old or so. It was just Ubuntu. 🤷♂️ Not very difficult. Just pop in the CD/USB and follow the installation wizard.
When I was 12 my dad gave me two defect PCs and says: find out how to compare the working parts and you can have this one for you. Also a copy of win95.
If I look back this was enough to learn about every hard- and software related issue ever. Hell, even the mainboards back then doesn't have any documentations about jumpers etc.
And win95 need a regularly reinstall. If I compare how many reinstalls I needed between win and Linux, windows wins.
Maybe I am autistic after all.
No, include autistic kids. Exclude unwanted kids regardless of anything, they'll skew the results. The unwanted neglected kids growing up with poppy playtime and skibidi toilet are going to program games for a job after being told to go away by their entire family. Everyone else wouldn't have used computers as often because they were spending time with friends and family.
Where there's smoke, they pinch back.
