I think it's because a lot of the conversation around operating systems can be quite elitist and people who aren't super into it are tired of feeling like they don't know something. For all the things I can criticize Apple for, I actually like their operating systems quite a bit. I hate the closed off ecosystem, but they do enough engineering to make the closed off ecosystem feel worth it. They respect their pro users with offline setups more as well. Windows, on the other hand, doesn't offer anything except being the most developed for operating system.

I think your best bet talking about Linux is talking about the cool stuff going on with the steam deck. Showing people's a handheld PC has very little to do with OS. Tell her about cool Linux stuff that she'll probably get to benefit from as a Mac OS user.