I congratulate you to your cunning grandmother! It's good to hear that she keeps up.
Anyway, "something not impossible to master" might not be necessarily optimal. In your scenario of browser usage the mouse adds an unneeded layour of complexity in terms of usability.
Whilst human beings are normally used to interact with their hands directly, sometimes they were apt enough to design tools when their hands just weren't enough. With hands you can't make a fire. With hands you can't dig up a field.
What you can do with your hands is push a button or a link. There's no need for an abstracted tool. The mouse provides nothing a single touch wouldn't. The mouse just provides clutter.
Still, I'm glad for your grandmother to have mastered it though. Whatever works to make people happy. Personally, I also have a mouse on my workstation, but I'm an edge case^
I realize it is silly to dispute somebody else's experience. If the iPad worked for that grandfather, and the mouse didn't, what can I say. It just seems to me the "revolutionariness" of the iPad tends to be blown out of proportions. I'd guess that a lot of older people could have a problem with the tiny screen, for example.
Supporting a granny on Windows and a mother on Linux, I have certainly seen a fair amount of unintuitive and confusing user interfaces. I don't want to defend all the design decisions in desktop computers (fwiw, I think Ubuntu provides by far the best experience for older people who need support from their younger relatives, but that is for another subject).
Of course just cropping away functionality until only "unconfusing" stuff is left is one way to approach the problem. I don't think it is the best solution for everybody, though.
Certainly cropping away needed functionality is not a very decent approach. But let me start with your comment.
Since it is my grandfather this article is about, I can assure you that he had a pretty nice LCD screen on his old PC. It was only a 17", but it was a Samsung SyncMaster providing good quality. Besides, my grandfathers eyes are probably better than my own. And I'm not kidding here - I don't need glasses, but with his glasses on he kills my eyesight whereever we go.
So it wasn't the monitor, it definitively was the mouse. But not only that. It was a desktop PC. There's no way comparing the clumsy process of reading a mail on a desktop PC to that on an iPad.
PC:
Step 1. You don't know you got a mail, you poll them. In this case we're not talking about tech guys who have an always running computer.
Step 2. Go to your computer.
Step 3. Start monitor, start PC, (start modem)
Step 4. Wait.
Step 5. Login
Step 6. Connect to the internet.
Step 7. Start your favourite mail application.
Step 8. Wait.
Step 9. Probably you got mail last week. Go ahead and read it.
iPad
Step 1. Your iPad is laying on the couch table. It beeps.
Step 2. You take the iPad into your hands and unlock it with one click and one sweep.
Step 3. Mail.app tells you there is one message. You click on it.
Step 4. Read the message.
There was a lot less walking and using potential keyboards and mice involved with the iPad. I personally like that experience a lot better for "non tech folk". Plus I like it on my phone. A lot.
I hear you when you talk about Ubuntu. I personally look after several installations of friends (sometimes girls). All of them are very happy with their computers. No viral problems, no bluescreens, no constant reboots. If they need something new I can install it remotely or talk them through on the phone.
Yet, all these users are "powerusers". They need Office. They need a printer.
Many people don't. That enables them to a lesser complex toolset. The iPad provides that. It could have been a good Android tablet. I'm a big fan of Linux and have been a SUN employee back in the day. But honestly, there is no good Android tablet out there to compete with the iPad right now.
I don't understand how the iPad magically connects to the internet, while for the PC it is a complicated challenge. I suppose you have a WLAN router now, whereas at PC times, you didn't?
No question, the always on nature of the iPad makes it more convenient for some tasks. Although I have to say, I never switch off my MacBook either, it always only goes to sleep (before you ask, I bought a MacBook because I thought I would do iPhone dev... Still a Linux man at heart).
I understand that the iPad can be simpler for some taks, I just don't understand how the PC/mouse could have prevented computer use completely.
Eyesight: your grandfather seems to be lucky, I was talking more in general, as the iPad is hyped as "the computer even old people can use". Most old people are less lucky with their eyes.
Both my parents do mostly stuff with the PC the iPad can't even do, for example skyping with their granddaughters. My mother is also still big on scanning, although I wish she would stop :-)
That's great to hear, Tichy! I'm glad for your parents to do all those things!
To your comments:
The iPad is always connected, because it runs on a data plan (since you're from Germany: we're on 10€/month O2). Before my grandfather had to connect his modem after disconnecting his phone. Again, you're from southern Germany, I'm sure you know a lot of smallish villages without DSL, too. Getting that Ubuntu PC online takes me about 5-7 minutes. Getting the iPad online the better part of a second.
And my Grandfather can use Skype, too. Ever since I started living in Switzerland (two years ago), I'm doing all of my calls using Skype with a landline plan. First with my Macbook, but since one year with my iPhone. I carry my landline with me, all the time. And so does my grandfather.
What the iPad doesn't do is scan, yes. But my grandfather has a fax capable of copying. And he own's a digital camera. That fixes about all use cases he has.
Again, if your grandfather is happy with the iPad, who am I to argue with it. I just don't understand why you compare it to outdated technology (this also always irks me about Apple). At the moment, UMTS routers seem to be all the rage, so you could have attached that "old PC" to a router, too. Of course having to manually change the phone connector is unbearable - I last did that maybe 12 years ago... Even twelve years ago there where cheap boxes available that would switch the phone line automatically between modem and phone.
I am not very knowledgeable about skype. I thought since the iPad doesn't have a camera, skype would be impossible (at least skype with a picture, which is a hit with the granddaughters). Also I wasn't sure, can you attach a digital camera and get images off it onto the iPad?
Anyway, I suppose it is all great - until you get those flash christmass cards...
There will be no video chat on the iPad. But honestly, I don't even do that with my girlfriend. I call her with my iPhone, not the Macbook. Just because it's more convenient to walk around while calling.
And there's an iPad camera connector kit. This was a must-have feature for us, because my grandfather really likes his Sony Cybershot digital camera.
As for the christmas cards, I will certainly not send him a flash card. I wouldn't want or open one myself. There's little to no chance that anyone will send him something blinky or flashy. Maybe a nice picture, though^^ Yeah, that'll work.
You comparison is unfair. Why can't you just leave the computer on, connected to the internet and logged in to your email? Then all that's left is walking over and taking a look. You might have to walk to fetch your iPad too...
Because the average person wouldn't want a 300W computer + 100W monitor running all the time. Besides, if you're still on a modem, you probably want your telephone to not be occupied all the time.
It keeps the bills down and let's face it: There's no usecase for an average person to have a computer running all the time. It's like having your TV and radio running all the time. You could do it, but you better shouldn't for various reasons.
Monitors have power buttons and desktops have little reason to use anywhere even close to 300W when idle - or do you leave 3D games running when you're computer is not in use? Anyway, since we're talking about your grandfather here, his computer really doesn't need to be all that powerful, to theres plenty of opportunities to keep power usage way way down.
Having said that, I completely understand your argument and agree that an iPad which is always connected on a 3g data plan, can be carried around and beeps when messages arrive really is easier and more old-person friendly.
Anyway, "something not impossible to master" might not be necessarily optimal. In your scenario of browser usage the mouse adds an unneeded layour of complexity in terms of usability.
Whilst human beings are normally used to interact with their hands directly, sometimes they were apt enough to design tools when their hands just weren't enough. With hands you can't make a fire. With hands you can't dig up a field.
What you can do with your hands is push a button or a link. There's no need for an abstracted tool. The mouse provides nothing a single touch wouldn't. The mouse just provides clutter.
Still, I'm glad for your grandmother to have mastered it though. Whatever works to make people happy. Personally, I also have a mouse on my workstation, but I'm an edge case^