At last! A computer for the elderly!
p2pnet news view P2P:- Oh goody !!!
Soon I’ll be “emailing” and “chatting away to family and friends”.
That’s what the BBC’s Valerie Singleton (right) promises, having gone from one extreme to the other.
She was once one of the presenters of the Beeb’s Blue Peter program for kids. But these days she’s touting a computer for the “elderly” with Gargle’s GooTube as one of her promotion tools.
“SimplicITy computers ship with a Linux Mint-based operating system and an Eldy-based email client,” says Hexus.
Eldy-based? 
Not Elderly?
At boot, “the system utilises a ‘Square One’ home screen designed to provide one-click access to the computer’s six key features,” to wit: email, browse the web; about me; chat: video tutorial; and, documents,” according to the story.
It comes in two versions, one for 446 quid (that’s pounds, to you non-Brits) and the other at 536 knicker (see pounds).
“Both systems feature onboard graphics and sound, an integrated network connection, a 19in TFT monitor, stereo speakers and a wireless keyboard and mouse,” says Hexus, going on, “Helping differentiate the models, the simplicity Suite 100 features a 2.2GHz AMD Sempron LE-1250 processor, whilst the simplicity Suite 200 sports a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom 330.
Not only but also, “Each SimplicITy computer ships with a series of video tutorials starring Ms Singleton,” says the post.
And Oh Yeh.
“The SimplicITy website also reveals that everyone who buys a SimplicITy computer system will receive one year’s free membership of discount-age.co.uk, a website setup by Ms Singleton to help find the best deals for 60-pluses.”
Yay!
As one of the eldery I will, of course, immediately dive into my tiny pension so I’ll be able to at long last join the computer literati.
heh
JN
Hexus – Valerie Singleton launches computers for the elderly, November 11, 2009
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November 11th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
And, will these computers also be set up, by default, to do all the things that most clued-in users DENY having done by their computers? (Since they’re appealing to a market that is, self-admittedly, and by definition, “clueless”.)
Just a question.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
These are massively expensive.. ripping our elderley off again?
November 11th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
oh… and its nicker – not knicker
November 11th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
@ Rabbit80
You’re right. Good thing I still have my monthly stipend from the Crimean War.
“oh⦠and its nicker â not knicker
”
Who says? heh
Cheers!
November 11th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
knicker is something ladies wear
Try the Oxford English dictionary…
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/nicker_1?view=uk
November 11th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
@ Rabbit80
That’s knickers, plural, that ladies wear, not knicker, singular, unless it’s a lady with one leg.
So No, Rabbit80, sorry. I’m afraid I’ll need a firmer authority on this before I’m willing to concede.
Cheers!
November 11th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
^^ “nicker noun (pl. same) Brit. informal a pound sterling.”
OK. I concede.
Cheers!
November 11th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
I concede that it is knickers that ladies wear, however – an element of knickers is knicker elastic
You really don’t accept the OED defenition? Try looking it up in the collins dictionary… http://www.collinslanguage.com
November 11th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
lol – I missed your last answer..
November 11th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Geez! Are we talking OED… or OCD??
November 11th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
and you’re all feable and sad now. Honestly, the elderly these days aren’t all that daft. My auntie is nearing 90 and has no probs surfing, googling, or even downloading. So, there are a good load of folk who might be deemed ‘clueless’. but given the opportunity, they aren’t daft. What would be cool would be to go into nursing homes or retirement tenants and simply show them how to use the modern technology that’s available. You know, have them push the keyboard. Ask them what they’d like to know about. Elderly people are absolutely amazing. They are completely lucid. They are the complete opposite of clueless.
My mum used to drag me to convalescent centers as a child. She would play the organ and make me sing old ’standards’. Afterwards, these elderly people would talk to me. Sometimes they would grab me and pinch my cheeks (which wasn’t all that cool, but, I tolerated it). Anyway, to make a long story short, it taught me loads. You can’t have their wisdom or experience until you allow them to share it. In that time between 6 and 17, I learned loads. My mum was a real educator. She was a complete and royal pain. No way I’d ever get by with murder. But, her making me spend my time with those people is pure classic and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Grief. Now, I’m rambling:) (Thanks Jon. Not sure how you knew that this post would mean something to me.
clever clogs 
luv it! ok, not for exploiting the elderly because of an expensive software, that’s kinda sad. But, hey, nice and if they want it, it’s probably worth it and it’s all about choice. :0
November 12th, 2009 at 1:15 am
In other words, a computer for people too stupid to own a computer…
November 12th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
@Indiana:
I wasn’t saying “the elderly are dumb and incapable”.
I was referring to the fact that the computers being described above are being marketed as being “designed for the elderly”, a “quality” which, in itself, is blatantly stigmatic already.
And, since these computers are being pre-configured for the supposedly “less computer savvy” (which is really what it boils down to), it begs the question, “How, exactly, is it configured, and what will it do by default?” The term “clueless” refers to those who don’t know the difference between what that computer SHOULD be allowed to do without instruction and what it SHOULDN’T be allowing, by default, as well as not knowing why there are things you need to approve before allowing them to happen. The term applies to ANYONE who fits that category of user, not simply the “old and unexperienced”. And there are still a disturbing number of “clueless” computer users out there, young and old.
You can bet your bottom dollar that these computers are being configured to take advantage of the inexperienced, if left unchecked by someone who knows better. I wouldn’t put it past them to have all sorts of “goodies” on it that ensure the user’s data gets shared and tracked all over the place, along with preset “convenience links” that will point the user to sites that are designed to sell them on things.
I could go on and on with a hundred or more quick examples of how they’d exploit the situation, but the bottom line, Indiana, is you completely missed the point of my first post. I wasn’t making fun of the elderly – I was making a pre-emptive statement of suspicion about the people behind such a marketing ploy.