They are both very bad at things like my kids listening to Spotify with the screen off.

Qustodio also has no way to mark an app as "allowed even when they run out of time", or "this app doesn't count towards screen time" (like Spotify, for example).

Then on the PC it gets MUCH worse. I want tracking and blocking on my PCs for my kids' profiles, but if ONE kid runs out of time, ALL the PCs lock everyone out. No message, either. Just bounced to the login screen. Took me like a whole day to figure it out.

On the other hand, one of my kids has a pretty severe eye problem mixed with dyslexia, so audiobooks are basically his only real option (large print is hard to find, especially for books aimed at younger readers, and tablet reading is tiring). So, I'm glad they exist, at least.

I have kids in school. Our school system is one of the top in Connecticut, which is the quintessential "school" state (if any rich kid on TV goes away to school, it's probably to CT).

These kids (all of them, not mine) can't really read. Not like when I was young. (I'm not even old! I graduated in the 2000's!) They certainly can't write. They have no stamina to do an essay or a test like when I was a kid. They can't be bored or be creative.

We've talked to multiple teachers who just don't know what to do about it.

It was better before Covid (my oldest's grade isn't as bad), but those kids who were in early elementary or younger when covid hit? Completely incapable of what adults would consider basic school tasks. Even the smart ones who get good grades!

But it's not (just) smartphones and tablets, imo. It's chromebooks in the classroom. School is online now, even after covid, and it just doesn't work in my opinion.

Personally, I'd drop technology from the classroom entirely.

Windows is a hassle to get working for advanced use cases, and then every quarter they nuke my settings via windows update.

I just can't do it. I managed to go about 6 months last year on Windows for the first time since ~2010, but nope. Not worth it.

I'll admit I find ibuprofen to be a bit of a wonder drug. When I have a cold or flu, ibuprofen by itself is the most impactful medicine I take. The anti-inflammatory effects make my whole body better, including my sinuses (my sinuses are a disaster normally anyway, though). I do avoid taking it otherwise because my headache doctor says it causes rebound headaches, though.

But if I need to go out somewhere and am not feeling well? 2 advil and I'm good to go. The only medicine I've found more effective for that is (real) sudafed, but if I take that after like 10am I won't sleep that night.

Basically everyone who smokes/etc is addicted to nicotine.

They aren't the same at all.

Settings was slow, it wasn't any easier than control panel, and if you wanted to do anything that mattered you ended up in control panel apps which were completely jarring UI-wise from the rest of the PC.

There were cheaper off-brand DVD players, of course.

You did have to buy a remote separately, though, unless you wanted to use the game controller (which had a cord).

IMO, there's basically no problem Linux has that isn't worse in Windows (at the OS level). Especially once you get into laptops.

My final conclusion was that I hate computers.

Just not exclusively.

For us, hiring .NET is WAY harder than the other stacks. We get a lot more applicants in general, but almost zero that meet our standards. For Python roles we get way fewer applicants, but the average quality is much much higher than the .NET average. (JS is a whole other thing, and we frankly aren't as good at hiring there yet)

That said, devices like the SteamDeck run games on Linux (and that's without considering that every Android game ever is technically running on Linux too).

Let's face it though, PC gaming is already small enough these vs the consoles, that further splitting the marked isn't going to make sense for a lot of companies.