[jbigelow]

Why does he need to use Outlook? He uses Yahoo mail. He managed to install iTunes. The printer installed without a hitch via the HP software. Windows updates install themselves these days unless you disable it.

My mom is paranoid about viruses and installed Symantec, but the paranoia also ensures that they don't click on weird crap coming thru email. Sidenote: my mom upgraded the laptop herself from Vista to Win7 without bugging me, praise jeebus!

PCs aren't mystical, I don't know if the expertise of maintaining them is some kind of totem that geeks cling to but hearing about problems with them is the exception instead of the rule these days.

[bonch]

If you think problems with PCs is an exception to the rule, you're living in a dream world. The point is that, on a tablet, your parents wouldn't have had to go through the hassle of installing slow antivirus software or "manage to install" things. Installation and uninstallation is so simple that the PC method of multistep installers and uninstallers immediately looks incredibly archaic.

There are other tasks like managing photos, watching and editing movies, installing third-party software, and more that I bet your parents have trouble with or flat-out avoid on a PC. These things are easy on an iPad. Not to mention the constant threat of malware, no matter how paranoid your mom is.

If there's a totem that geeks cling to, it's the fear of the PC going away and the fantasy that PCs aren't overly complicated to an embarrassing degree, or that everyone can magically learn how to use PCs if they'd just spend hours every night on them like geeks do. It's symptomatic of a real lack of perspective when it comes to how the public deals with the standard PC. You and I think they're easy because we spend most of our time on them. They are our living or our hobby. Most people aren't like that.