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Easier E-Mail for the Older Generation
- edw519 17y ago"After many calls, her father reported that it took him three days to close a window and that he still didn’t know how to make an @ symbol appear on the screen." "Ms. Bryant thought it was even more of a lost cause when her mother asked for her fax number so she could send an e-mail message and then spelled out d-o-t in an e-mail address." We laugh at this, but easily forget, "How are they supposed to know?" If someone has trouble with technology, it probably has much less to do with their age or circumstances than with our ability to satisfy their needs. I've often thought there are gold mines out there for those of us who can simplify while providing the same value. OP posts a great example of this.
- ruchi 17y agopawpaw mail was discussed on HN http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=554958 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=554958
- rjurney 17y agoWhich probably led to the googlage which resulted in the NYT getting in touch.
- jimboyoungblood 17y agoYou're kidding, right?
- rjurney 17y agoNo. Not kidding. It upped pawpawmail's google rank on the topic. Hacker news, blog and twitter coverage can matter.
- jimboyoungblood 17y agoSure such things can matter, but in this case I think it's more likely that someone pitched the story to NYT and they liked it for whatever reason.
- dugmartin 17y agoI can't imagine what the support load for this must be like.
- rjurney 17y agoActually, it has built-in support such that the younger relatives of the older person help them with any confusing tasks. Thats the whole point!
- epall 17y agoEven better: http://www.mycelery.com/ http://www.mycelery.com/