When your sample set includes the kid who installed Linux at 12
Description
Screenshot of a Twitter exchange on a light-mode interface. Tweet 1 (by @soychotic, verified blue check): “Can someone do a correlation study on kids who were started with mac computers versus windows pcs and tech illiteracy or even just general problem solving skills because I have a Hypothesis”. Timestamp shows 7:04 AM · 12/9/24 · 10M Views, with 2.1 K replies, 8.2 K retweets, 188 K likes, and 17 K bookmarks. Under “Most relevant replies”, user @vussyviz says: “I installed Linux on my laptop when I was 12” (52 replies, 98 retweets, 13 K likes, 852 K views). Original poster responds: “Autistic children will be discluded from the study for skewing results.” Visually, each tweet is framed in standard Twitter cards with profile pictures blurred. Technically, the humor plays on operating-system tribalism: Mac and Windows as mainstream baselines, while early Linux adopters are statistical outliers that wreck any neat correlation study - an in-joke many veteran engineers recognize from decades of OS flame wars and self-selection bias in developer communities
Comments
34Comment deleted
Every data scientist hates that one datapoint that compiled a custom kernel before puberty - the residuals never recover
The real correlation is between "I use Arch btw" and the number of coworkers who suddenly remember they have a meeting when you approach their desk
The real correlation study we need is between developers who claim 'I installed Linux at 12' and those who now spend 40% of their workday explaining why their custom Arch setup is actually more productive than just using the company-standard MacBook. Spoiler: the study would be confounded by the fact that both groups will spend the other 60% arguing about it on Twitter instead of shipping features
Run the regression with controls for SES, teacher quality, and “compiled a kernel at 12”; the childhood OS coefficient drops below Alt-Tab latency - what remains is lifelong package-manager preference
Requesting a Mac-versus-Windows correlation study is cute, but the only statistically significant result is that the 'installed Linux at 12' cohort is a self-selected treatment group whose adult outcome variable is 'compiled their personality from source' and now files font-rendering bug reports for fun
Excluding Linux kids from the study? Wise - otherwise the results would fork into a debate on systemd vs init forever
It's not an autism it's particle of god Comment deleted
- Take a USB and any "create bootable Linux USB tool" - Reboot - Next, next, next, next... ... - I installed Linux, you Windows slaves! There are some issues with installing desktop Gentoo from minimal - you at least have to know keywords. It's even harder to install LFS (well, I doubt it has any real purpose beyond being a hobby). It gets really hard when it comes to hardware issues like PCI passthrough to Wine or using some weird Wi-Fi adapter (supported by Windows for 10 years already but still missing in Linux). Hardened distributions can cause even more pain. But just "installed Linux" stopped being an achievement in the late 90s... Comment deleted
It was my comment about autism, not about installing Linux Comment deleted
But about fucking with Linux Optimus laptops are fucking disaster Comment deleted
When I was buying a laptop in 2013 I searched for the only one which had zero use (including video output) of internal GPU. Comment deleted
Well I was 11 when I first installed Linux so i guess its not totally out of question Comment deleted
When I was 10, I assembled my pc from scratch, you know nothing about autism Comment deleted
approved Comment deleted
do you like trains? Comment deleted
not particularly Comment deleted
Are you a furry? Comment deleted
You assembled your computer from scratch, and had no attraction to TTD?! Comment deleted
openttd is based Comment deleted
Autism Furry Trans Pick minimum of two to play Comment deleted
When I tried Linux at 12 I was frustrated it didn't support any games and installed windows shortly after Comment deleted
is everyone getting verified emblems next to their names in social platforms or is it that I don't know their profession? Comment deleted
This is twitter. There you buy to have a verified like looking account💀🗿 Comment deleted
oops Comment deleted
i remember when i installed linux i think was ubuntu at 9-10 Comment deleted
When i was 12 my dad couldn't fix my computer so he made me install Ubuntu now im a gentoo user Comment deleted
Understandable, have a good day. Comment deleted
Fuck, misclick Comment deleted
Hey I grew up with a PowerMac G4 that shit was a Unix box Comment deleted
Installing Gentoo is easy if you can read wiki from your phone. Comment deleted
Misclick Comment deleted
Fuck Comment deleted
Lurking failed retreating immediately Comment deleted
hehe :3 Comment deleted