[blakeross]

Making computers easier to use is not our business model, so I'm not sure what it has to do with sustainability. And there's unique technology underpinning our efforts, of course. But I can't imagine what could be more central to a company than trying to create user satisfaction; why do we need more than that?

Second, I was raised on computers. Just because I know how to use them doesn't mean I like using them. In fact, I generally find computers to be a pain in the ass.

Finally, I suspect the problem of usability amongst 50 year olds is a very critical problem amongst 50 year olds :)

[JMiao]

Hey, Blake! My previous post was more in response to rms. When I said "There's GOT to be more to this!", what I was really meaning to say is that I'm sure you and Joe have a very good plan for carrying your mission out. Something the general public isn't quite privy to at the moment. :)

I would agree that the problem of usability amongst 50 year olds is very critical to 50 years olds. However, I'm interested in how Parakey plans to deliver their product message (and distribution!) to a mostly uneducated web demographic -- especially a group with a more narrow use case when browsing the web.

It's awesome to see you on here, Blake. :)

[rms]

I imagine they'll get the message out in the traditional ways: advertising and PR. As far as distribution, I assume long term plans involve customized hardware that would provide for an optimal Parakey experience.

[JMiao]

Advertising and PR will not be enough (and just saying these will solve your problem doesn't work either) -- Apple's "Switch" campaign is largely based around the fun, out-of-the-box experience and ease of use. All of that work and they still have a way to go in converting people (especially non-college aged folk).

As far as distribution, a customized hardware solution that will deliver Parakey's software experience doesn't really address the distribution problem. How do you get the mythical machines distribution themselves? Besides, hardware is a very different business with different metrics than the software game...attacking both at the same time would be extremely difficult.

So my question still stands at how would you get the software out to the mainstream, especially those who aren't very web-literate to begin with? I'm thinking about people like my parents who only use their browser to check Hotmail, read reviews, and maybe do some basic shopping. They would certainly adopt a new computing platform that was more intuitive, but how do you get them to do this? The same folks who would greatly benefit from Parakey's work is the same demographic that still uses Internet Explorer.

[rms]

I'm not sure what Parakey's doing, but my idea is to use financial incentives to encourage viral distribution. Install Granmos for your parents, your grandparents, the local senior center, and nursing homes. Then, you get a percentage of advertising revenue from all the new users of Granmos that you're helping.

[JMiao]

While the elderly would certainly love an easier computing experience, I think my questions above address the overall mainstream population that have a pretty narrow use case when it comes to internet browsing.

Your approach to viral distribution sounds very complicated.

How do you go about placing ads on something that's supposed to ease the computing experience? On top of that, would you need to login using your account at a specific IP address to gain the "credit" for installing the app? How would the system know who to "credit?"

[rms]

It seems like you're looking for a perfect answer as to how Granmos or Parakey could become one of the top three operating systems. I don't have the exact solution, but I know there is an enormous market and I wouldn't need ten million users to have a company worth acquiring. If I knew how to market Granmos to the point of becoming a monopoly crushing success I would probably already be getting paid millions as a consultant. I know Granmos can be successful, even if it doesn't reach the ten million user mark.

PR is a very important way of marketing for Granmos. You can do a local newspaper press release. Write an article about how a college student is making it easy for his grandparents to use computers. Send it to every local newspaper in America. Get new users. This is the kind of thing you can do for free, but professional PR people do it better.

Maybe I could do something really crazy, like giving stock options to anyone who acts as an evangelist or developer.

As for advertising, it would mainly be cost-per-action style ads. Affiliate links for online shops and such. You can do things like pitch a free magazine subscription offer at users. Those affiliate programs can pay $5 per action. Also there's the money you get when someone searches Google through your site. The important thing is to stick to advertisements that have some kind of benefit for the user.

Tracking the referrals isn't a hard problem. You could distribute Granmos live CDs with your new users automatically tracked to you. Otherwise, when a new account is created, fill in the referral box on the signup page.