seems like a great idea, but knowing how older people can cope with change I don't see this going so easily and nicely for them as the article makes it sound?
Anecdote: 2 of my family members over 50 years old had XP running with Office2003. I gave them Lubuntu and it took them literally months to adapt. For an IT guy it's off course all alike, but actually it isn't. Especially not if it already took you years to master Xp/Office in the first place.
Apart from that, while I applaud them wanting to reuse old hardware, it seems most pc hardware lives for 10-15 years max. So I hope theay are prepared for that with appropriate backup systsems so they can recover all the systems that will eventually, sooner than later, shut down.
My olds have no idea what they are doing and have to relearn it every time it gets turned on anyway.
From experience working with end users over the last 20 years this is normal whatever your age for non-technical users. Discoverability is more important than absolute consistency.
counter anecdotes: my 73 year old grandma switched to Linux mint 9 months ago and loves it. and my 21 year old cousin tried the same and ran back to Windows after days.
The issue is, for a person as old as your grandmother, learning even the barebones of how to use a computer can be a novel experience because they have had a very small chunk of their entire life to attempt it. This is following having access to many other modern forms of entertainment for far longer.
Whereas, in the case of the young cousin, they grew up with tech like this and having to relearn something that is basically the same system but with a different coat of paint and more inconveniences is a hassle.
I'm not much of a Linux user (I only check out some distros once in a while), but I found Linux Mint Cinnamon to be extremely intuitive, and I "got it" right away. I actually thought it was easier to use than Windows 7, and I use Windows 7 all the time.
I also think Zorin OS is looking great, and it seems like a very nice OS for those moving from Windows 7, especially.
Anecdote: 2 of my family members over 50 years old had XP running with Office2003. I gave them Lubuntu and it took them literally months to adapt. For an IT guy it's off course all alike, but actually it isn't. Especially not if it already took you years to master Xp/Office in the first place.
Apart from that, while I applaud them wanting to reuse old hardware, it seems most pc hardware lives for 10-15 years max. So I hope theay are prepared for that with appropriate backup systsems so they can recover all the systems that will eventually, sooner than later, shut down.