No seasons vs summer vs winter tyres

[Rattnalle]

Here and there in different threads it seems a lot of people over there on the other side of the puddle drive around on so called all season tyres. Sure that's a thing over here too but as a rule only among people with no knowledge and interest in cars. Anyone who isn't an ignorant cheapskate has a set of summers or winters they switch between. TCO is the same in the end unless you drive so little the tyres die of age.

So why is it a thing over there among people who are interested in and have good knowledge of cars? Especially those who seem to live where winter isn't a thing and the seasons are cool summer and hot summer.

My reasoning on the different kinds below as input for a discussion/fight.

The picture below is from my switch to winters yesterday.

The tyre on the left has soft rubber that's useless when it's warm since it'd be like driving on an eraser but that stays soft far below freezing. It's got a lot of sipes also making the tyre feel soft but contributing to grip on snow and ice. A lot of people here in the north use studs as well but since I live on the coast where it's mostly wet I decided I'd go for quiet and comfort above ice grip. They're still decent on ice, my Continentals will still be better than cheap Chinese studded tyres but nowhere near the Finns and their Hakkapellittas.

The tyre on the right is a proper summer tyre. Hard wearing rubber, wide stable blocks and wide channels for water to escape. It's like driving on a hockey puck when it's below freezing.

The so called all seasons fall in between. They need the winter tyre pattern to pretend they're grippy in snow which makes them soft and squishy but they also need to use summer tyre rubber or they'd wear out in just a few thousand summer miles. The result is a tyre that just doesn't do anything well. Too soft in the summer ruining handling and too hard in the winter to be grippy.