IMO, any resource like the one in the OP is going to get bashed ("not the way I would learn stuff"). Might as well learn something from it.
I don't think so. The reasons for using version control when programming solo aren't obvious. Especially with the intimidating learning curve something like git has for newcomers. Most CS students I've tutored would either dropbox their code, or store it by emailing it to themselves.
And then there's the difference between using version control just for yourself, or a small group project, vs using version control on a large application, such as OSS with hundreds of contributors. Workflows, best practices, etc.
I had never used any version control until my first internship. I didn't really put any effort into a good git workflow until I was at a company that actually cared about establishing one.
In general, school teaches you the content without the tradecraft. You'll need both to be a "rockstar" developer, and I don't see how you could ever get the tradecraft without working in the industry.
If you are writing hello-world, maybe you don't need a VCS. Anything bigger than that can benefit from using one.
A few years later, I found myself working in the industry and using a real VCS (Microsoft's dont' recall the name), and realizing this was the same thing I have being doing lamely for the last two years with daily zip files and lots of notes on the README.txt for each project.
You may not "need" to, but almost any individual project will benefit from it, also.
There are adequate merge tools available in VSS, like any other source control tool. Disabling them is silly.
I consider source control to BEGIN when two people check out the same file. If you can't do that, then its really version control.