Hacker News Reader

Comment by PretzelPirate | Hacker News Reader

My parents aren't technical and don't see the builtin ads and news feed as being user hostile.

They like that candy crush is pre-installed and that Windows shows them random spam news articles that they find interesting.

I hate it and use a Mac, but I suspect most users aren't like you and me.

View on HN

In the short-term, Targeting older people (like your parents) who don't care works for Microsoft. But eventually they won't be around anymore.

Take a look around and most people under 30 seem to have a MacBook. At least here in my area of the United States.

I always wonder how people meet enough random samplings of young people to get this information!

I have 9 nieces and nephews, plus some neighbor friends that have kids. Of them, maybe 2 or 3 use iPads. The ones that have laptops (other than school provided) have them for PC gaming, and they run Windows. I guess I'm in a different area of the U.S. from you, based on my anecdotal data.

I should clarify, When I say people under 30 I'm talking about young adults who are purchasing their own Laptop. Not children. So the 21-30 age group.

My parents are not technical but view pretty much all changes since Windows 10 as downgrades and annoyances. Things in the UI change randomly for no reason (e.g. copy/cut/paste are now unlabelled buttons placed in an unexpected spot of the context menu), the dark theme is buggy and can make the minimize/close buttons invisible and the few areas not touched by Windows updates were absolutely ruined by Dell. You may think the latter isn't connected to Windows, but you can't buy a Dell with Mac OS.

my parents and their friends are in their 80s and are ALL on ipads now, and this is by their own choice, not their kids pushing it on them

nothing to "administer"

the platform is curated

it does what they need

it runs on battery for a long time

My parents are in their 70s and have run Linux for the last 15 years. Supported by me, of course.

They don't know the difference.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com