These discussions are not very useful, because they are based anecdotal evidence.

Just to offer a counterpoint: my mother never used a computer and is non-technical, but she manages great with her iPad (she does chat, Facetime, and web browsing). She had a couple of hand down Android phones (IIRC, Moto E, Moto G, and later a Samsung Galaxy Note 4). The Android phones were very confusing to her and she had difficulty contacting anyone while on the go. She recently got an iPhone and she manages without trouble.

The problem is that there are a so many factors: prior experience (my mom used an iPad before), extremely small sample sizes, biases (if you are an iOS fan you like to believe that iDevices work better for your loved ones), etc.

There are only some aspects that we can objectively evaluate (iDevices get security updates for longer periods, iDevices typicaly get more frequent updates). When it comes to usability, you can only get meaningful information from large samples.

"These discussions are not very useful, because they are based anecdotal evidence."

This is true of practically every comment on this site!

I disagree. I have learned a lot from technical discussions on HackerNews.

I think that was meant to be ironic; there's a lot of value in anecdotes.

For scientific research maybe, but I'm sure you're aware that usage "anecdotes" (i.e. use cases) are part of the basis of designing a user experience.

And anecdotes are useful for learning about phenomena deserving real investigation. E.g. it's been very interesting to learn that there do exist non-techie people who have a harder time with Apple devices.

My parents almost solely used windows. I had an old macbook and gave it to them and they had a very hard time adjusting to the new UI, they kept asking for the Start menu.

Remember when Windows 8 came out and people were asking for the start menu?

> Cognitively, he's the same, so it's not that.

When did he learn android? It's much harder for older people to learn new things especially when they're used to something else.

Good question. He started on the iPhone. Then, after a few years switched (I never knew the reason). Now, switched back. He has never understood the difference between a text and an email (I think a lot of non-techs have this issue, TBH), so that's likely part of the problem sending pics.

He's 3,000 miles away and doing support for him over the phone doesn't really work. So, I've sort of stopped trying. My step sister is smart, so I'm guessing he does it for her now. Of course, when I'm visiting, he unloads a bunch of questions on me and I try to explain the best I can. He suffers from what a lot of non-techs suffer from: they want the fish, not for you to tell them how to fish. I've tried to explain this to him and my SO, but I get that "why are you being an asshole?" look, even though I make the offer in the nicest possible way.

Funnily enough when I introduced my parents and grandma to Linux (Ubuntu 2013/14) they all went from nagging me constantly with small issues to bashing on how shitty Windows was.

IMO a good ui concept doesn't need explanation. However many people never know because they never used one.