I expect a modern computer to be able to do whatever updates it wants in the background, and apply any kernel changes when I restart it. Ubuntu has been able to do both for years.

It usually happens when they buy from a respectable company, so the machine doesn’t come with a free (pirated) Windows preinstalled.

The vast majority of people use a web browser, an office suite, an image viewer, a video player, and maybe some games. They’ll use whatever OS came free with the machine, or whatever they can get a friend / relative to install for them.

LGBT people are over-represented in IT, as it is less judgemental of such things compared to many other professions. Also, people who had to hide their identity, or question it, or read more about such hard to access topics, probably learned how to use the internet, and may have even developed an interest in fields like privacy and digital equality.

As for anime, Japan (and China, Korea etc.) are major electronics manufacturers and designers, so their culture has influenced the internet, and particularly the more nerdy parts of it.

But there are plenty of people with very different political views in the Linux community, from RMS’s infocommunism to Eric Raymond’s right-libertarianism.

You forgot the fedoras and capes. And of course OG h4X0rs wore XXL t-shirts and ancient jeans, and lived on honey coffee, locusts cigarettes and stuff that got stuck between their toes.

Stereotypical h4X0r wear.

Something like WhatsApp >> Youtube > Instagram > TikTok > Telegram > Facebook > Reddit > Twitter, with some variations and local additions from country to country.

Windows has been getting shittier, but I feel that Microsoft as a company has better products now. WSL, GitHub, ChatGPT, even VS is enjoyed by many people.