Since the introduction of automatic transmissions many people haven't been learning how to shift a manual transmission. These people aren't necessarily worse drivers.
They are in the sense that they need to be picky about the cars they drive.
I've been using a manual transmission ever since I took my driver's license 10 years ago. At first I also drove a shitty car ... gears wouldn't shift unless you knew how to touch the gearstick :)
Now I can drive just about anything, with no accommodations necessary. Changing gears is also in my reflex and it doesn't bother me ... I just don't think about it. I can also eat a sandwich or talk to the phone with no hands-free while driving, although that's considered a bad practice that's also illegal :)
Well, I think the difference is even less than that.
People who never drove a stick-shift may have no idea how to operate one. Whereas someone switching from an IDE to a text editor would still be able to work - just less productive.
Apt metaphor! Sometimes driving a manual transmission can be fun (think wide open road), On the other hand, have you ever driven a manual in congested rush-hour traffic? It sucks! It requires a lot more work, concentration and sometimes it's literally painful (aching leg from working the clutch).
