Lovely, lovely apples

My aunt has previously had maybe 40 hours experience of computers, using Windows 95 and ME a couple of times in the past. Her level of technical knowledge is less than mine was at the age of 15, though she has forgotten more about the technicalities of pottery (kiln temperatures/glaze mixes/clays etc) than I will ever know, and has more creativity in her little finger than I seem to be able to manifest altogether.

Time passed since my aunt last ventured on the internets, but she was aware that it is there, and felt like bettering herself a little. The Open University beckoned from afar, and it seemed worthwhile to get broadband and a new computer to aid her distance learning.

Yay, thinks I, an opportunity to migrate another person over to a Mac (in this case a MacBook).
Boo, thinks I, this will not be easy - it will take a lot of patience and explanation...but I don't mind, I spent years doing that as a job, after all.

Well, I have to say, so far, it has turned out a lot easier than I thought it would. I always go on about how OSX is easier to use, but I'm so far removed from the learning process (or my brain is so used to "all this computer stuff") that I forget what that ease of use means to someone new to computing.

Teaching my aunt the basics took only a couple of hours (and most of that was spent discussing the finer points of DSL pricing structures in France). She now seems able to write, send and receive e-mail, browse the internets and use Front Row to play CDs and DVDs, and has only needed to learn a whole bunch of jargon, rather than re-wiring her brain to fit in with Windows.

The main thing I guess I'm saying here is that for me, everything that my aunt has learned is no longer jargon. It's part of my everyday language, and it's so easy to forget that it's not part of everyone elses. Macs make it easier to pass on that language by minimising the extra jargon needed. Still, it might be a good idea for my wife to sit down with my aunt at some point to go over use of the computer, so she definitely doesn't get overloaded by jargon from me, which I'm likely to do unless I exercise extreme self control.

True, my aunt's still on dial-up until they connect her ADLS line at the other end, but it's a start...and a very easy one at that. That is, she's on dial-up since I got hold of a dial-up account that works from somewhere other than my own phone line...what's that all about?