the llm will comment on the average case. when we ask a person for a favourite tool, we expect anecdotes about their own experience - I liked x, but when I tried to do y, it gave me z issues because y is an unusual requirement.
when the question is asked on an open forum, we expect to get n such answers and sometimes we'll recognise our own needs in one or two of them that wouldn't be covered by the median case.
I think you're focusing too much on the word 'favourite' and not enough on the fact that they didn't actually ask for a favourite tool. They asked for a favourite how-to for using the suggested options, a Dev Container or a VM. I think before asking this question, if a person is (demonstrably in this case) into LLMs, it should be reasonable for them to ask an LLM first. The options are already given. It's not difficult to form a prompt that can make a reasonable LLM give a reasonable answer.
There aren't that many ways to run a Dev Container or VM. Everyone is not special and different, just follow the recommended and common security best practices.
when the question is asked on an open forum, we expect to get n such answers and sometimes we'll recognise our own needs in one or two of them that wouldn't be covered by the median case.
does that make sense?