How easy to use OS X really is...

[Diatribe]

... is easily shown by my grandma. She wanted a computer so she could connect to the internet and I told her that if she wanted my help she'd have to get a Mac. Showed her mine for an hour and she was sold.
She's been using it for a little over 2 months now and she's ordering tickets online, chatting with me, sending emails, voice chatting with me and my dad, writing letters, printing pictures I sent her, browsing my .mac pictures and saving them to iPhoto, etc.
Of course she has questions and is sometimes not seeing the obvious button in front her eyes, but what she does with this Mac, not having worked with a computer ever before is incredible.
Mind you my grandma is 82.

Thought that I'd share.

 

[7254278]

Wow that truely is amazing, what mac is she using?

 

[Diatribe]

Wow that truely is amazing, what mac is she using?

She got the standard 12" iBook and is using it with an airport express with wireless printing and surfs from all over her apartment. The really funny thing is that she likes using the trackpad more than her mouse...

 

[PlaceofDis]

awesome, my 'rents wanted to get my grandmother a computer, i always pushed the idea of a mac, and they wanted to get her a cheap dell.

i said i wouldn't fix any possible problems if they got her a dell, they dropped the idea. and its all a moot point now anywho.

 

[OutThere]

Explaining problems with Windows to people who don't do computers can be a real pain. Good job starting her on a Mac.

 

[Benjamin]

Stories like this never ever get old.

 

[greatdevourer]

The really funny thing is that she likes using the trackpad more than her mouse...

Doesn't suprise me. For everything except graphics and gaming, I much prefer the trackpad. After the summer holidays, using a mouse again felt so strange In actual fact, it felt like using a trackpad for the first time. I guess it's just what you're used to

 

[bousozoku]

My mum, who is 70, can't stand any computer. She bought an electronic typewriter, with a 2 line display that she won't view, to do all of her letter-writing.

"I hate that damned computer." is her favourite line while discussing the computer. I've heard the exact same line from one of her sisters.

Congratulations to having such an open grandmother! It's a great story.

 

[Abstract]

If you can teach your 82 year old grandma how to use a computer, surely I can teach my 48 year old mum how to check email and surf the web. I need to get her a Mac Mini, though. Once she sees the big PC tower and years that fan, she gets all confused about things. If she didn't have to turn the computer on each time she uses it, that would be a big plus, and I just can't do that with her PC right now.

NEXT TASK: Get my mum to leave her mobile phone on so that people can call and reach her.

 

[iBlue]

i tend to agree, unless you are me with a log in window issue and then it seems they are impossibly difficult. <sobs> i love my mac though, it's just massively troubling when something does go wrong... it's traumatic

 

[0098386]

Aye! My mum is a carer for a disabled woman and she was thinking about getting a computer. she wants something small, nothing too expensive, wifi. She wanted a PC laptop but my mum asked me about OSX and is it really like what I've been bragging about.
Her next computer will be a 12" iBook

My gran is also thinking about getting an iBook as she travels a hell of a lot between her house in Poland, house in england and villa in spain. she wanted a PowerBook because its metal. heh. Kinda wish she would get a powerbook, not use it and give it to me

 

[greatdevourer]

NEXT TASK: Get my mum to leave her mobile phone on so that people can call and reach her.

I have it even worse! My mother always takes her mobile with her, but never turns it on

 

[maestro55]

My ex-yearbook yearbook advisor and good friend Ms. Cunningham, who doesn't know very much about computers uses OS X pretty well. Given she has been using Macs since the Apple II days, there were a lot of changes when they went into OS X. Also the fact that her Mac use was only in the classroom, and she was always getting help on them. Some people are just not technically inclined. When they took her imacs and gave her dells, she was very upset, and decided that she would get her a Powerbook for when she retired. Thanks for Mr. Burnes (The computer teacher) and me she picked out a very nice 15inch Powerbook G4 with a 100gig harddrive, and 1gig of RAM. Currently she does email, internet, she connects her Canon DLSR to it, she uses Office for Mac, and with my help she will be upgrading from OS 10.3 to Tiger and she will begin to use Filemaker Pro, and I told her she needs a .mac account to host pictures so the ones that I take with her camera I can get from her. The fact that she can navigate OS X without me showing her how, and her never using OS X before was pretty good. There was a big jump from 9.2 (that her imacs had) to 10.

I noticed the nursing home that my grandmother is in has Wi-Fi, I don't have a laptop with wireless (this 390X doesn't have it, and I am not going to buy it, considering I never carry it with me), so I don't know if it is open or not, I doubt it. Still it made me wonder about internet for residents. Maybe not so important today, but as more and more people use the computers like they use cable TV and the telephone, I believe we will see internet at even nursing homes.

heh. Kinda wish she would get a powerbook, not use it and give it to me

..since the above mentioned Ms. Cunningham doesn't take the PowerBook off of her desk, I tried to talk her into getting a more powerful G5 with a bigger monitor and giving me the Powerbook, HA! Didn't work out.

 

[TodVader]

I'm trying to convert my Girlfriend and family because of the ease of use! They often have problems that would be solved using a mac.

 

[Clix Pix]

My mother was 95 when she got her first computer last Christmas. Prior to that she had used an internet-ready device called the "I-Opener," so that she had some concept about email, surfing the web, etc. The limitations of that I-Opener were many and so I convinced her to get a "real" computer. We bought her a Dell PC. (This was prior to my getting hooked on the Mac.) It was a pretty basic computer and I configured it for her, set it up so that it was fairly straightforward and easy for her to do the things she needed to do. Only a few times did I get a phone call or an email asking questions or telling me about a problem. I finally convinced her that it was really much more useful for her to describe the problem in detail rather than sending a cryptic email saying things like, "my screen has a blue box on it."

Unfortunately, my mother passed away in September, so now I can't share the joys of using a Mac with her. If she were still here, you bet we'd be replacing that Dell with a nice iMac, which would have been perfect for her. I think it would've been so much more enjoyable a computing experience, too, than using Windows XP, but that's not how things worked out. I was just happy that at her age she was willing and able to use a computer at all!

OTB

 

[Clix Pix]

I noticed the nursing home that my grandmother is in has Wi-Fi, I don't have a laptop with wireless (this 390X doesn't have it, and I am not going to buy it, considering I never carry it with me), so I don't know if it is open or not, I doubt it. Still it made me wonder about internet for residents. Maybe not so important today, but as more and more people use the computers like they use cable TV and the telephone, I believe we will see internet at even nursing homes.

In the last few weeks of her life, my mother was in a nursing home, and that was something about which I'd wondered, too, if internet access were available there for residents and visitors. The answer was no. In that particular place, though, many of the residents were quite ill and it seemed that those who were ambulatory and a little more "with-it" were not at all computer-savvy or interested in going online. My mother and I had briefly talked about taking her computer there and setting it up for her (she was in a private room) but she really was becoming too ill by that point and we were both concerned about the security of the computer, so quickly scrapped that idea. I used the machine while I was staying nearby in the apartment I'd leased for myself and then after her death brought the machine home with me. Eventually I got around to cleaning it out and then setting it up for a friend who needed/wanted a desktop computer.

Anyway, I do think that both now and in the future, in all nursing homes it would be a real asset to have wireless internet connectivity for residents and visitors, so that there was a common computer that could be shared or so that any residents who wanted could have their own computer and go online in the privacy of their own room. I know that if for some reason I eventually wound up in a nursing home, I'd want to have my Mac with me!

OTB

 

[maestro55]

Anyway, I do think that both now and in the future, in all nursing homes it would be a real asset to have wireless internet connectivity for residents and visitors, so that there was a common computer that could be shared or so that any residents who wanted could have their own computer and go online in the privacy of their own room. I know that if for some reason I eventually wound up in a nursing home, I'd want to have my Mac with me!

Yes, you see my dad's mom passed away last january, but she was also in a nursing home. There were two wings, one for those who could walk around and do things, and though I don't recall seeing wi-fi at that nursing home, or any computers. As the next generation goes to these nursing homes we will see computers there for residents.

Now my mom's mom is in a much bigger nursing home, with like 6 different wings, and they appear to have wi-fi. My guess is this is for the computer system that the staff uses, but I do wonder if any residents could have access (I doubt it, since I am sure secure stuff passes through the network). Like you, if for some reason I was put into a nursing home, I would like to have my computer and the Internet. Nursing homes could offer it, like they offer phone service and cable TV. My grandmother doesn't use computers, and I have never seen a resident with a computer, but then again I haven't seen the private rooms, maybe they have computers.

 

[Abstract]

I have it even worse! My mother always takes her mobile with her, but never turns it on

Actually, we have it exactly the same.

 

[Clix Pix]

Ehh..... I've got a mobile phone and it's actually turned on all the time, but I usually don't give out the number, so then when it does ring I am taken by surprise. I tend to use it more for making outgoing calls than for receiving them. The other day my purse started merrily playing a tune and it took me a few minutes to realize that, oh, that was the cell phone....

OTB

 

[Clix Pix]

they appear to have wi-fi. My guess is this is for the computer system that the staff uses, but I do wonder if any residents could have access (I doubt it, since I am sure secure stuff passes through the network).

Probably they would need to have separate networks: a specific VPN for in-house staff-only use, possibly another network for administrative staff to access websites of insurance companies, Medicare and other necessary healthcare contacts, and perhaps another totally separate public router not connected to the other networks for residents and visitors to use if they want to get on the internet.

In the public library, for instance, the library has networked public workstations for providing access to the internet and access to the library's collection, then they have a separate network for staff only, which includes patron information, book cataloging data, etc. Recently, through a generous donation from someone in the community, two wireless routers were installed, one on the first floor and one on the second floor, so that patrons can now bring their own laptops in and use them wirelessly. I've been meaning to take my PB over there and try it out...

OTB

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

Good job, Diatribe! ...yet another switcher

 

[Thomas Veil]

If you can teach your 82 year old grandma how to use a computer, surely I can teach my 48 year old mum how to check email and surf the web. I need to get her a Mac Mini, though.

I just turned my mom onto a Mac Mini. She asked me to go with her to check out the PCs at Best Buy, but once I convinced her to come with me to CompUSA and look at the Mini, she was sold. Of course, I set her up nicely, and loaded her iPhoto with a bunch of desktops and pictures of her new granddaughter.

Anyway, I do think that both now and in the future, in all nursing homes it would be a real asset to have wireless internet connectivity for residents and visitors, so that there was a common computer that could be shared or so that any residents who wanted could have their own computer and go online in the privacy of their own room.

There was a study a year or two ago -- and damned if I can find it now -- that showed that computers for the elderly, particularly in places like nursing homes, improved the quality of life for their users. The internet provided a means of letting them get outside their "four walls" and out into the rest of the world.

 

[Blue Velvet]

The internet provided a means of letting them get outside their "four walls" and out into the rest of the world.

I don't think that applies just to the elderly.

 

[Deepdale]

... She's been using it for a little over 2 months now and she's ordering tickets online, chatting with me, sending emails, voice chatting with me and my dad, writing letters, printing pictures I sent her, browsing my .mac pictures and saving them to iPhoto, etc.

That is very impressive for a grandmother her age. It is so rewarding to observe how someone opens up their world by participating in the various activities that a computer allows them to. She clearly benefitted from having a good family resource like you and I hope she enjoys everything for years to come.

 

[bousozoku]

Actually, we have it exactly the same.

You noticed that, eh?

My mum is just as bad. It took forever to convince her to get a phone and then, when I would try to call in important situations, it was off.

However, I think I have a solution. When you go to leave a message, if it allows you to leave a numeric page, do that first. That should turn the phone on. Then, dial the number again--and hope that she can find the talk button.