senior pc- big market?

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giovi2002
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:43 pm

senior pc- big market?

Unread post by giovi2002 »

Sometimes i'm helpin the elder ones with computer probs and i can fully understand they complain about firewall or virus messages.

A dutch firm (www.simpc.nl) will be launching a senior pc at beginning of june called simpc.
With the simpc you can do the most common things like a normal pc but without bugs and worries about viruses. The concept? a thin terminal which operates on the simpc network. File management will be on a server and your internet will be done by the firewalled and virusscanned proxy of the network. The pc is as big as a videotape.

With a large growing amount of people above 50 this might be a big market.

Factually anyone can start such a senior service when you have a good server architecture, all they need to do is to lock-on to your network with their pc and you can do the file management and internet access. The simpc itself (the client) doesn't seem to be not necessarily to me

What do you think of the simpc concept?
jhobbs
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:18 am

Unread post by jhobbs »

This sounds similar to the corporate workstations that were in vogue in about 1992, where the PCs booted directly from the network, right?

Could work, but most people prefer being self-sufficient, using the net only for acquiring information.

In my experience, the elderly (and I'm a geezer) are very suspicious of technology, and don't trust placing their data into the hands of others. When asked to run Windows' excellent MSINFO32 utility and send the results to assist in troubleshooting, a surprising number were suspicious that their private data was being exposed.

In any case, such an enterprise would require total faith in the parent company's integrity, capabilities, and longevity. People don't seem to trust Microsoft very much, and perhaps they don't trust Apple either. Why would they trust the senior pc people?

The broadband available to most subscribers doesn't have the throughput necessary for handling large files, such as graphics. So, I wouldn't jump to invest my money ...
Jack.
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C.Trautmann
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:19 pm
Location: Aalen - Germany

Unread post by C.Trautmann »

In my opinion there are 2 facts against the successful distribution of this system. On the one hand there are the seniors who arent interested in computers. Also such a system can't convince them. On the other hand there are the seniors who are able to handle with the pc's, the bring along enough curiosity to work with full pc's.

And the other problem would be the fact of an official network. Off course you get a firewall and anti-virus stuff. Indeed, the hackers arent from yesterday and to destroy such a project would be a nice entertainment just as well.

Regards, C.Trautmann
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