[geeks] Help me convert a computer illiterate to an iMac!

[Michael Schiller]

On Monday, January 6, 2003, at 04:14 PM, Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:
> She doesn't understand Windows.  She understands Windows 95, which is a
> -very- different beast from Windows XP.  The UI is different, 
> networking
> is different, program maintenance is different, system maintenance is
> different.  It's different all the way down to and through the kernel.

If I were to mention kernel to my mother, she would start looking for 
corn. She's truly illiterate when it comes to computers. She uses it 
for email, and freecell, and formerly daceasy accounting. Hmmm... just 
thought of something that might be a problem, is there a version of 
freecell for MacOSX? (or even classic for that matter)? My mother is 66 
years old, and she doesn't 'understand' anything about any OS, she just 
knows where to click to get to the couple of programs she uses! I was 
really hoping that by getting a Mac, she would become less afraid of 
the machine, and actually start using it more. I mean as it is now, if 
I email her a picture, she has to print it out from the AOL (yes, AOL) 
mail screen, because if she saves the picture, she can't find it on the 
disk! She also has a scanner that she barely uses for the same reason.

I wonder if a Mac would actually be easier for her to use, or if she 
would be just as afraid of it as she is Windows? The idea that it's a 
'new' OS might frighten her enough that she'd really not make use of 
it! But heck, if that happened, my daughter (who lives with my mother) 
would get to use the iMac, and she WOULD make good use of it.

-Mike
*-------------------------------------------------------------------*
* PGP fingerprint= D2 4F A8 B7 13 D5 73 1E  48 99 40 99 F9 BC 74 74 *
* Email:schiller at nospam.agrijag.com \|||/    http://www.agrijag.com *
*                                   (o o)                           *
*--------------------------------ooO-(_)-Ooo------------------------*