mivox - 10:09 pm on Mar 29, 2002 (gmt 0)

As much as my first impulse was to say the same thing, weblady, it would seem like an imac would be overkill for someone who just wants family email...

But a used CRT iMac would be well under $1000, I'm sure, and if you set up everthing for her with just the email icon on the desktop, used a super-simple email program, and just taught her...

1. How to turn it on
2. Double click email icon
3. How to use email program
4. How to shut it down

...she might be more comfortable with that for a while, and be interested in learning more at a later date. At which point you put a second icon (perhaps a web browser?) on the desktop, and just teach her how to use that.

That would also prevent any confusion that WebTV might cause while running into sites that aren't compatible with it, if she tried to surf the web through her television... and a lot of areas offer cheap or free internet access with certain local & long distance phone service packages.