[X4U] Advice sought on a Mac book for an elderly beginner-level user.

[Jamie Kahn Genet]

Vent away :-) God knows I need to occasionally, heh.

Yeah - I almost feel the same way about my grandmother - she started
out with an old PC running Win95 that my Uncle got her. Despite being
a crappy PC she DID have some excellent 'for Dummies' books on Win95
and Word 97... that she hardly touched. In fact she would invariably
reach for the wrong book (Word for Dummies when she needed Win95 for
Dummies or vice versa). I never could get her to understand the
difference between an OS and an application. Word for Windows doesn't
help by allowing a user to do virtually anything in the Open/Save
dialog *sigh*

Skip forward almost ten years and I feel it's a safe move getting her
a Mac mini to replace her old PC, because she never learnt how to
create folders, organise files, etc on the PC, so it's not like she'd
be learning much that was new on the Mac. And of course I would no
longer have to deal with endless security hassles on her WinPC!!! :-)
But she still doesn't know diddly squat and still refuses to work
through a decent beginner's book. There's always some excuse. Her one
for the Win Dummies books, BTW, was she didn't like the humour. *deep
sigh* I felt like telling her she doesn't need to LIKE them (though
that would help, I suppose), she just needs to work through them a
little bit each day till she understands the fundaments. But I didn't
of course. Then her excuses when I got her some other Windows for
beginner books (I forget what they were now) were she was too busy
(she's retired and fairly well off for goodness sake!), she has me to
show her (well turns out I have a life and can't be there 24/7), etc,
etc.

So I feel your pain, Bernard :-D

Regards,
 Jamie Kahn Genet

2008/5/3 Bernard Munter <bmunter at netspace.net.au>:
> On 3/05/08 003322, "Jamie Kahn Genet" <lists at wizardling.geek.nz> wrote:
>
>  > Heh, yeah I reckon :-) Thanks everyone for all the good suggestions, BTW. I'm
>  > a fan of The Missing Manuals, but they're too heavy going for my target
>  > audience. I like the sound of something highly visual that desribes in text
>  > and then shows in pictures what's going on. Are those "A visual guide to..."
>  > and Visual Quickstart guides in colour? They both sound about what I want.
>  >
>  > Cheers,
>  >  Jamie Kahn Genet
>
>
> >>> Sounds like me and my mother...
>  >>>
>  >>> David
>  >>>
>  >>> On May 1, 2008, at 9:37 PM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
>  >>>
>  >>>
>  >>>> I like them, but showing the same stuff over and over and not getting
>  >>>> compensated for doing so is wearying. Perhaps you'd like to volunteer?
>  >>>> ;-)
>
>  All depressingly like my 61yo sister. Bookmarks scrawled on scraps of paper
>  which she keys in over and overŠ
>
>  Said she needed a textbook on the Mac. Suggested one of the Robin Williams
>  titles. Did nothing, no interest. Had one shipped to her from Amazon.
>  Thrilled to receive it - hasn't even opened the thing!
>
>  She wanted to organize her email into folders. Showed her how to create
>  folders and move messages in/out. Has done nothing since. All mail still in
>  the inbox.
>
>  I showed her how to organize her music into playlists and folders. Still
>  can't do it by herself _and_ can't make the connection between that and
>  organising the Finder, email, bookmarks etc.
>
>  Says she still needs me to show her how to copy/paste.
>
>  Bought her an iPod for Thanksgiving - engraved and gift-wrapped. Intimidated
>  by the packaging! After a lot of cajoling and scolding (her word for it) she
>  got around to using it by late February.
>
>  Sorry to vent, but I feel your woe. She loves her computer, an indigo iMac
>  her son gave her. I sometimes wonder that, like the iPod, it might have been
>  more kind _not_ to have given it to her.

-- 
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.