My understanding of the history of fashion is that back in the 1950s America it was expected that you wore a suit/dress at work unless you had a different uniform. There were a bunch of very boring people who thought that we should be wearing office job garb all the time, because they wore suits so much it was their default style, and since suits and dresses are both conservative and good-looking they were trying to nudge culture into accepting their worldview.
But with our computers, we are living in some boring-ass timeline where the suits-4-life squares won. We are all stuck using The Office Job OS at home, unless you work in a creative field that got really stuck in with MacOS ages ago. I don't want to wear a suit at home. I want something I think is comfy and pretty, which is why I use Zorin OS.
I did not choose to get into Linux because I think it's better for my workflow or because I am weirded out by all the trackers in win11 or because I care that Microsoft is an evil megacorp. I chose to start using Linux because the last version of windows that i was happy to boot up was Windows 7, and I refuse to use something on my own time that feels gross and looks icky. My preference for something that i can just set up and not have to tinker with makes Zorin a perfect fit for me, and I tend to throw a little fit when i have to do something in Windows specifically. I don't understand why so many people are comfortable using the Office Job OS when they could be using something that suits them.
Preemptive edit because I've seen my post be misread twice already: I'm not trying to say that Microsoft isnt an evil megacorp that stuffs their os with spyware and bloat. I think that was the dealbreaker for most of us here. I just happen to have the sort of personality that Apple targets, and I have been struggling to articulate what specifically made me chose installing Zorin OS on a PC using a TV as a monitor instead of just getting a MacBook like my mom. Also its like 1 in the morning where I live and I need to get to sleep lol
I know it's beside your point, but I want to chime in...
On the contrary, I don't think that's how the mentality came about, or was held at that time at all. If you go back to the 1850s or 1750s, suits and dresses (or some older variant of them) were a sign of wealth, intelligence, high class living, etc. They had to be hand-tailored by experts using rare fabrics and dyes that had to be shipped all around the world. Then the industrial revolution came, and clothing was able to be mass produced (usually at the cost of quality). Suddenly the middle class had access to suits and dresses, but the perception that it was something for the wealthy was still there. For many businesses targeting the middle class, the suit and dress WERE the uniform, as a means of displaying how regal their brand is.
And it's not like we've gotten past this. If you go on any of the social media sites with ads, take a look at what you see: some knock-off piece of trendy clothing that's made to look like a high end fashion brand, but targeting the lower/middle class.
All that said, I'm all for the "punk rock" mentality. Don't do what your parents did just because society told them to tell you it was important. Stick it to the man, yadda yadda. But I think it's a trap to assume that the 1950s proletariat felt any differently than the same class of people do today.
As for windows v linux, of the people who are aware of both yet continue using windows, I think most would say that they use it specifically because they have a "preference for something that i can just set up and not have to tinker with" and because they also aren't making their choice based on "the trackers in win11 or because [they] care that Microsoft is an evil megacorp".