Bulletproof Tool For Golden Age Browsing?

An anonymous reader writes "I work in a retirement/assisted living home. Many of the residents had never used the Internet but really find it fascinating once they are given a little training. However, I've stopped introducing it to them because of the drain it puts on me. There are a million and one things that a computer novice can screw up, and I don't have time to solve all of them. These folks don't need any sophistication. and they need only the most basic options. Adjustable text size would be nice, but otherwise — no email, no word processing or editing, no printing — just Internet browsing. This may not seem like a big market, but it's getting bigger every day! Is there an absolutely fool-proof device that can provide this without requiring virus scanners and constant attention?"

Comments

Turn Off Javascript

[eldavojohn]

Before I dive in, I have to say that I don't think you adequately explained the requirements here. In one part you seem concerned about configuration, in another you seem concerned about security & finally it seems to come down to being too sophisticated for the user.

I'm not sure which one you value the most. But, assuming we need all three, I would suggest something like the OLPC as an everything. Yes, it's geared for children but I guess you're kind of dealing with ... well, in some cases degenerated minds. I don't say that to be mean but ironically my four year old cousin and my 80 year old grandfather have some of the same needs when it comes to high tech gadgets.

One step up from that would be to use a premade Live CD of Ubuntu or Dragonfly or some other easy live Linux OS. You show them how to reboot with it and then they can surf like that. The downside is they can't save anything to disk but the upside is they can't save anything to disk :). Granted, this may violate your sophistication requirement (and destroy caching), it has the huge benefit of going "Oooops, time to simply reboot."

You know, the last college I attended had labs where you had administrative privileges but they reverted to a system restore point nightly. As a result, there would be screwed up machines but only for a day or week at most.

But, if we assume you don't want to reboot with a live CD of the OLPC or Ubuntu, you could instead simply turn off cookies & turn off javascript. Why? Because javascript is the devil. I think it has some of the most flawed type casting (if I can call it that) out there today. It's not a "type safe" language. And the proliferation of JSON objects in Javascript is frightening. But once you eliminate cookies & javascript, you also eliminate a lot of functionality.

I would suggest giving them the flash plugin (pending system requirements) as it's not so bad anymore. That and they'll probably want to watch YouTube videos of their offspring. I think that is a fair trade being as the latest Flash plugin is fairly secure.

So, I would finally recommend you give them plain jane mozilla firefox with no javascript or cookies & the flash plugin. It probably wouldn't hurt to jack the security meter up to the top and just tell them that sites they can't access are bad sites anyways.

Once again, I could use more requirements before giving you a final assessment but the above two options sound like they would come pretty close to satisfying your (and their) needs. These were made under the assumptions that these people suffer from learning disabilities in their old age and, as a result, you cannot host training sessions whereby you show them safe & secure internet usage.

In the end, I predict that some of the users are going to find a way to make it hard for you and them. I suggest starting with the lightest steps and only progressing forward as necessary.

Re:Turn Off Javascript

[Shados]

It uses javascript to load Flash because of that issue with IE and plugins because of patents problems. Its the workaround to go around the workaround (wow...) that allows external code to load a plugin without user interaction so you don't have the "Click here to enable this plugin" thingy popping up.

Wow, thats the most runabout post I ever wrote. Going to bed.

Re:Turn Off Javascript

[Anonymous Coward]

So, basically, your advice is that he provides them with a pretty much completely non-functional system, that will fail with most websites they might visit, purely to satisfy your religious zealoutry re typesafe languages? Good advice. That's right. He's a zealot and his commentary on how unsafe Javascript is has nothing to do with backing up his point about turning Javascript off. In fact, his whole post is him just babbling incoherently with no related points whatsoever.

Your post, however, now that's right on the fucking money. He kind of did mention it would severely reduce functionality though. But I like yours better still. A sentence, a sentence fragment and not a singly fucking reinforcing point. Well argued, sir!

Re:Turn Off Javascript

[drijen]

Why make this so difficult? Simply use Deep Freeze http://www.faronics.com/ or Clean Slate http://www.fortresgrand.com/products/cls/cls.htm.

When the user is done with the computer, just reboot, and it will be back to its original configuration. If users need a 10MB space or whatever for bookmarks, load them to an internal webpage, or allow that space on a spare computer.

No mess, no fuss, easy.

Disclaimer: I used deep freeze on my grandmother's computer because i grew tired of hearing about broken things every time I visited. That was several years back, and I have not heard a peep since.

Obvious

[Anonymous Coward]

Man, you should know better than to ask a question like that on Slashdot. The Mac guys will say to use a Mac, and the Linux guys will say to use Linux. And then the Windows guys will complain about bias. Just watch =)

Re:Obvious

[DeadChobi]

What is it about all the "use Linux" posts on slashdot? Jeez, this is one of the most biased communities on the internet when it comes to operating systems. Everyone knows that Windows provides the most user-friendly browsing experience on the face of the planet.

Wii

[Techno-Hat]

It's called a Nintendo Wii. Turn it on, browse awhile, zoom in, zoom out and turn it off.

VMWare to the rescue!

[aweraw]

Check out the VMWare browser applicance... basically a disposable OS with browser in a vmware image. If it gets broken, just create another copy - no need to worry about the base system getting hammered with crap.

VMWare Player is free - have at it!

suggestion:

[larry bagina]

show them lemonparty. They won't be interested any more. (then again, maybe they will).

Opera Kiosk Mode

[Pap22]

http://www.opera.com/support/mastering/kiosk/

Designed to be used at public terminals. Bonus points for installing it on Linux.

Write a program tthat browses

[nate nice]

Write a simple program that calls off to their favorite sites and prints them out. Then give them paper version of what they like.

Then they can pass it around, etc. Sort of like bookmark sharing.

Re:Firefox in kiosk mode?

[Simon80]

Firefox in kiosk mode, configured as your X session (i.e. the app that is executed by X when it starts up), on an X server that is reloaded automatically, with all the VTs disabled, is apparently pretty bulletproof in practice.

LiveCD DSL linux or Mac OSX Simple Finder

[goombah99]

Run Mac OSX. set it to the simple finder mode. There you can lock out all applicatons you don't want them to have. They cannot edit the icons in the dock so what they see is what they get (and they can't accidentally delete them either). And finally if ALL you really want is Browser, you can put it in kiosk mode and even have it boot that way. SO all it is is a browser, up and running when you snap on the machine.

Now if you are budget minded you could do the same with Linux. Use a Live CD, configure it to boot to a browser. Remove all the other icons and don't give them permission to the apps. One of the very easiest ones to configure this way is DSL linux which has the benefit of booting very very very fast from CD and running on old, memory starved hardware, and being parcimonous about screen realestate. However, for you i'd recomend DSL-N (not DSL) as that is more modern.

If you are not budget minded, it would be smarter to go with the mac. several reasons
1) lots of plugins will be easier to use. likepdf support in the browser itself, (flash quicktime silverlight....)

2) some folks there might want a real computer too. The liveCD linux boot will be constraining. Macs, have faster user switching so you can corral the people who need the simple finder but let other use it in advanced mode.

3) Eventually they may want to add a few more apps. maybe they want for example to have podcasts. google earth. Watch DVDs

4) you can keep a mac secure without going crazy. You can even firmware lock it to keep the wiseguys at bay.

5) it's easier to attach portable disks, second or external screens, cameras, etc... to the mac. No sys admin needed.

6) If you need support you can call apple and so can they if you are not around.

7) For desktops there are no cables and they are easy to adjust to viewing angles (like for a wheel chair)

8) easier to use applications, should they want them.

Security

[halcyon1234]

There's nothing wrong with wanting to keep the computers safe from the users, but don't neglect the opposite of this.

As every poster has pointed out, you can rock-solid a computer with Kiosk modes, virtual machines, etc, etc. But if you're going to put a tool like the Internet into the hands of (shall we say) "unskilled" users, you have a responsibility to protect them from the baddies.

Before anyone gets on the computer for the first time, drill some basic saftey tips into them. Do not give out passwords. Do not give out personal data. Do not give out financial data. Not to anyone, no matter how legit it looks. For many, this is probably their first experience on the internet. You cannot take for granted that they have been ingrained with The Basics. They don't know about Phishing. They don't know people can make a website that looks exactly like their banks' website. They don't know about Nigeran princes. Their bases have only every belonged to them.

Print out some Golden Rules, and post them in the computer lab/common area/whatever. If the computers are going to be in the resident's apartments, make sure you print out something that can be stuck to the monitory.

Send them out to play, but not in traffic.

You can do some things behind the scenes as well. Route everything through a gateway you control. Make sure you have some good security on it. Go grab PeerGuardian's list, and maybe mvps.org's host file. Keep it up to date so that it blocks all the well known phishing sites. Concider blocking any outbound request for an IP address (rather than an URL). Run a mail server with a kickass spam filter, and give them all their own email boxes. (grandpaAbe@shadyacres.com). It also makes it easier to whitelist their friends&family email addresses to let legit attachments through.

Try running guided tours of the Internet. Don't just pluck them down and say "here you go". Show them good places to go, and how to get there. News sites. Wikipedia. National Geographic's site. Typing Tutor sites. Maybe some instructional courses: How to use Flickr to view and post family albums. How to edit a Wikipedia article about the hometown they grew up in (and know everything about... preserve the knowledge!)

Do this right, and not only will you have safe comptuers-- but you'll also have safe, happy, productive users.

Re:LiveCD DSL linux or Mac OSX Simple Finder

[arivanov]

There is an easier way to do it with Linux than live CD. Much higher performance as well.

Start with a full install of Debian or Ubuntu or any other distribution that strictly complies to the fs standard and does not write into /usr. Build it with separate /,/var,usr and use tmpfs /tmp /var/tmp. Install all necessary plugins. Once you are happy with the result switch /usr to read-only mode. Do not give them a root password and provide sudo instructions for the visiting grandchildren if the golden age customer asks them to install something in addition.

This has been tested on a Golden Age customer (my mom) and this setup is the first machine she has had so far that does not require any maintenance. It just works regardless of powercuts, cats sleeping on the keyboard, etc. She had a windows before that and it got trojaned with a dialer hijacker which clocked her an insane phone bill. It also worked 10% of the time. During the rest it was suffering from various windowsy degenerative diseases. Prior to that she had a linux with a normal read-write install and she successfully managed to f*** it up by pressing the power button during fsck a couple of times.

lynx

[turing_m]

with a 21 inch monitor (nice big text by default), OpenBSD, no X, just a terminal. What's not to like?

"These folks don't need any sophistication. and they need only the most basic options."

Old People need more than that!

[billstewart]

.... and the people who support actual old people will complain that you don't understand what old people need. Unfortunately, many old people need a bit more than the original poster suggested.

• They do need Javascript and Flash, because too much of the Web uses it. Therefore you need an environment that can support that dangerous junk safely :-) You also need to be able to play a couple of different video and audio formats.
• Old people print stuff. That's how they remember it between sessions, especially if they've got a kiosky environment where they can't save their own stuff easily. It's also how they make it easier to read some things that are hard to read on screen. So you need printing.
• Shared machines might need logins or equivalent to take care of bookmarks and web-page stored passwords.
• Old people need email, but you can punt it over to Yahoo/etc. if you want.
• Some old people like Instant Messages; others don't.
• Some old people need to be able to load pictures from their cameras, so they can mail them to their kids or grandkids.

My first thought was to do a Linux livecd of some sort (or MacOS or BartPE or OpenBSD if you're not a Linux fan.) You *should* be able to do a pretty safe read-only-/usr environment instead, which will perform better and be a bit more reliable, and you can build yourself a reinstall-everything CD/DVD to fix things in case it's acting up - just try to find some way to preserve any user account settings. VMWare or User-Mode Linux or Xen can make it easy to build a heavy-duty sandbox environment to make it easier to keep the basic system safe if you want.

The important part of the user's interface to the operating system is that if they turn the power switch off and then on again, everything will work as if it were loading from scratch. Maybe they need to type in their name and a password, or maybe not.

Give them some responsibility

[stranger_to_himself]

I would suggest something like the OLPC as an everything. Yes, it's geared for children but I guess you're kind of dealing with ... well, in some cases degenerated minds.

'In some cases' is the key phrase here. In most homes there will be enough people who are perfectly capable of using a computer.

In short, my advice is to find the one of them with the most clue or potential for clue and make him/her the sys admin. Then let them do what they like.

I work in geriatric psychiatry and my group has been interviewing older people in institutions to understand in what way their needs are or are not being met. A common theme that arises among the cognitively intact (who are quite often smarter than most of us) is that they feel useless, they can see there are needs within their environment that are not met and they are not empwered to do anything about it. This upsets them greatly.

You've probably got people in your home who were in techincal jobs before they retired, and are more than capable of looking after a couple of PCs. Give them some Linux CDs or Windows or whatever and a good book and let them figure it out. They've probably got nothing better to do.

They'll feel empowered, they'll teach their friends, and leave you alone. Don't patronise them, don't give them a crippled system.

Re:LiveCD DSL linux or Mac OSX Simple Finder

[sniggly]

Same here, my mother is using debian, firefox, google mail and openoffice allows her MS compatible document exchange for her charity work; the box is behind a firewall and the setup works flawlessly. People who claim linux isn't ready for this kind of setup are clueless, it is windows which cannot function properly in this setup; my mothers friends all operate spyware and virus infested zombie spam mail systems and I am glad I don't know enough about windows to help them out. Windows + office also costs a bundle.