"Windows offers a friendly environment that makes it easy to use software."
I've recently been getting my uncle, who is in his eighties, into using a Windows PC.
This is the first time he's used a computer, though he has used keyboards before, and it's made it clear to me that, for the average person, *using computers is still too hard*. It's easy to forget this when you've been using computers much of your life, and are surrounded by basically PC literate people at work.
Windows is certainly easier to use than DOS, but I've had to simplify the Windows setup so much that I could do this equally well under Linux. The only reason I didn't is that my uncle's friends provide local tech support, and they know Windows. Also, he can get local training in using computers.
One of the hardest things was the atrociously complex interface to dialup networking in Windows NT, and the way IE4's Offline/Online setting is shared with Outlook Express - I ended up buying a shareware dialer so that I could set up Netscape as the browser, not for ideological reasons but so that it wouldn't mess up the Outlook Express offline settings (which make it easy to compose email offline).
The lessons for Linux or any Windows alternative are:
- focus on real ease of use with non-PC literate users (Redmond Linux is getting quite close to this with task-based menus and so on - see http://www.redmondlinux.org/). Microsoft is pretty good at this, but maybe Eazel and Ximian type companies will run their own usability labs.
- incorporate natural language and voice input technologies - the keyboard and mouse are still barriers for some people
- settle on a single 'default' GUI, so that local training and support can be obtained without the 'I only know GNOME' syndrome
If my uncle lived round the corner, Linux would have worked well, but supporting someone 100 miles away solely through the phone and dialin is just too hard.
Computers are still too hard to use (Score:2)
I've recently been getting my uncle, who is in his eighties, into using a Windows PC.
This is the first time he's used a computer, though he has used keyboards before, and it's made it clear to me that, for the average person, *using computers is still too hard*. It's easy to forget this when you've been using computers much of your life, and are surrounded by basically PC literate people at work.
Windows is certainly easier to use than DOS, but I've had to simplify the Windows setup so much that I could do this equally well under Linux. The only reason I didn't is that my uncle's friends provide local tech support, and they know Windows. Also, he can get local training in using computers.
One of the hardest things was the atrociously complex interface to dialup networking in Windows NT, and the way IE4's Offline/Online setting is shared with Outlook Express - I ended up buying a shareware dialer so that I could set up Netscape as the browser, not for ideological reasons but so that it wouldn't mess up the Outlook Express offline settings (which make it easy to compose email offline).
The lessons for Linux or any Windows alternative are:
- focus on real ease of use with non-PC literate users (Redmond Linux is getting quite close to this with task-based menus and so on - see http://www.redmondlinux.org/). Microsoft is pretty good at this, but maybe Eazel and Ximian type companies will run their own usability labs.
- incorporate natural language and voice input technologies - the keyboard and mouse are still barriers for some people
- settle on a single 'default' GUI, so that local training and support can be obtained without the 'I only know GNOME' syndrome
If my uncle lived round the corner, Linux would have worked well, but supporting someone 100 miles away solely through the phone and dialin is just too hard.