Re: TTG marketing woes

[chasby@xxxxxxxx (Charles Burke)]

Hi Leslie,

You wrote:
>You can't do quick and dirty and make a machine that will allow Grandma
>to surf the net at the same time.
>  Well maybe you can, but for sure nobody's tried.

Ummm, actually you're right. My Mom (now 73 and a Grandma three times
over) tried a simple" DOS machine about 4 years ago. It came with
WordStar, which is quirky, but certainly no more difficult to learn with
its command keys than XyWrite with its command line, and she was totally
stymied, despite her strong desire to master it.

Then last summer, she wanted to try again. Considering her experience
with DOS, I ordered her out a notebook (small, for low intimidation
factor) and had it loaded with Windows and MS Works. She took to the
GUI interface and trackball immediately. And she has been churning
out her poems for family and friends ever since. Now she's started
talking about just that--getting on to the internet. With the level of
hardware now available, who really cares if it's fast software or slow?
It works and it's easy and she'll get a great kick out of it.

So perhaps we shouldn't sell the GUI interface short just because of
our own "superior" preferences. Click and drag and drop (though it
may seem infantile or kludgy to some of us) really is easier for other
people. And frankly, I'm glad it's there for her.

Charles Burke, Tokyo