That is so cool!
I wish my Dad was as technically adept. Every few weeks he'll say that the computer seems to be running slow and that maybe it's time to reformat the hard disk. All he does is send email and surf the web. Not to mention he just loves to open email. And certain members of my family make it hard to resist, seeing as how they're retired and insist on sending between 20 and 50 jokes/chainletters/etc. to him. Then, surprise surprise, he has several viruses in his system. But my personal fave is when he downloads security patches. He'll download EVERY new one, even Windows Server 2003 patches. "Well, my computer's LIKE a server isn't it?" <bangs head against wall> No, Dad, it's really NOT!

I had a similar experience with my grandpa. He got an old Mac LC, and he fell in love with it. He and my grandma live in Florida in the winter and Indiana during the summmer, and he would take the computer with him for each trip. He currently has a first-generation iMac, and he really wants to get a new iMac.

It's really cool to see that just because a person is old, it doesn't mean that they can't "get" computers.

It was the same with my grandmother. When she was about 88 (she's nearly 93 now) she got a Compaq and a dialup account. Since then, she's used the internet to assist her in writing a few history books and some historical fiction. Email has become her main mode of communication. She stopped subscribing to the Washington Post as she can read it online.

Her biggest challenge has been the relationships between OS, software and hardware, but I guess that's perplexing to most users.

She hasn't named her machine (as far as I know), but she does refer to her mouse as "Mr. A. Nony" every now and then.

Thats awsome.

HA! You heard it here first...

http://neopoleon.com/blog/posts/4107.aspx#4141

;->

Well, the question is, does your grandmother read your blog?

Fra Diavolo is perhaps THE single best name for a computer ever. Geeks across the world typing on a computer called "Shadowfax" in shame.

I honestly have never had a cool name for my computer. Your grandma is obviously much more 1337 than I am.

My computer at home is named jbaltzellxp! Cubicles and "The Man" are draining away my creativity!

milbertus -

"It's really cool to see that just because a person is old, it doesn't mean that they can't "get" computers"

That's part of what I really liked.

You hear all these stories about losing your ability to learn as you get older. While there's certainly truth to it, it's refreshing to know that someone in their 80s/90s can still approach a computer, even with all this crappy software we write, and "get" it.

Very reassuring.

NJ John -

"HA! You heard it here first..."

Yup :) You were right-on..

Matt -

"Well, the question is, does your grandmother read your blog?"

She does (even knows what a "blog" is already), but I don't know if she reads the comments.

She's currently still experimenting with the "consume" side of the web, and has yet to take part in the "interact" side.

my 65 year old mother-in-law can't even figure out how to use the remote for the tv.

I had something similar with my 75 year old grandad, he was a mechanic and never touched a computer so I gave him one as he now lives in spain.

He quickly picked up web browsing and email and joined user group.

Next thing I know he sends me a mail telling me that he hopes I dont mind but he's ordered a new motherboard/processor/memory as the box I gave him was too slow, and what were my thoughts about intel over amd for his requirements.

My dad still cant work the video.

I love hearing stuff like this. Ultimately, I think the age/technology barrier speaks more to the (lack of) usability of the software we write than it does an older persons ability to learn new things. Hopefully we can climb our way out of the user interface hole some day (without creating UIs so dumbed down they appear to be tailored for retarded spider monkeys and the perpetually catatonic).

It really is a matter of motivation. My 70-something grandmother didn't really seem interested in computers until she found out the stuff she can do with them.

Once she found out she could create a digital copy of all the slides she has (she's a huge photography buff, and has all her photographs as slides and very few as prints) she came to me and said "I want to buy a computer."

I've been truly impressed with how quickly she has picked it up. (With no previous experience!) Basically, she comes to me to find out what she needs to do what she wants, goes out and purchases it herself and installs it herself (with the exception of things inside the case) and then figures out how to use it. The only questions she really has are asking what are the "best practices", such as to use CD-R vs. CD-RW for long term archival purposes, etc.

Now she's talking about converting all her old records, 8-tracks, and tapes into audio CDs. She also emails people she knows from all over the country.

Would I have ever thought she would have gotten into computers? Absolutely not. But all it took was finding out she could do some things on her computer that were pretty cool. (Well, that and finding out how much it costs to get a digital copy of a slide made. Converting ~10000 photos would have cost her close to 10X as much as just buying the computer and doing it herself did.) Once you have a motivation to do so, learning suddenly gets a lot easier.

Rory,

That is SO COOL!!! The only thing better then that is swapping digital photos.