It pretty much is. A lot of people still use Git GUIs and automatic transmission has handily beaten manual transmission in the US - not everyone understands or even wants to understand the tech they use.
Regarding transmission though, why hasn't the automatic transmission handly beaten the manual transmission in the rest of the world? My guess is because of the increased cost of maintenance and repair. I guess people are more willing to pay for support when abtracting the internals of their VCS away compared to others who understand it at a low level.
probably neither here nor there, but I always see manual transmission in new cars as an anachronism bordering on placebo. Primarily because everything else is still an abstraction. Specifically steering. I recall BMW or maybe Porsche getting raked over the coals for their lifeless floaty steering in a few of their newer models. Modern steering is all emulated anyway, giving you that "road" feel. Along with cars piping in engine noise via the speakers (ugh)
It's purely preference at this point and likely mainly for older people like me who grew up in the era where manuals were cheaper and more efficient. Neither is really true anymore, manuals have become an expensive option in most cases in the USA and the new automatics are more efficient. Complexity and cost to repair on the other hand...
There was a huge uprising against its removal from Porsche cars until they finally relented and added the option back starting with the GT4 but now it is also in the 911s.
Point being that there is value in the abstraction, people value it, people pay for it. I know how to use a stick shift and I'll still pay for automatic for the ease of use.
Though for one who is experienced driving a vehicle with a manual transmission, a lot of the actions become second nature, meaning that it's not really more or less difficult to use. The only time a manual transmission vehicle is arguably more difficult to drive is in stop and go traffic, but I've handled that by maintaining a larger following distance and trying to maintain pace at idle speed in first or second gear.
