Even if the initial market goes away once the older generations start disappearing, there is still an enormous market _today_. For their product to catch on, they'll have to design an all around better interface than the current desktop metaphor. For Parakey to succeed in the long run, they need to appeal to power/traditional computer users as well.
I applied to Y Combinator with a very similar idea to Parakey, only entirely web-based. I got an interview last funding round, but PG and company weren't convinced we had solved the design problem.
You can see a quick design demo at www.granmos.com/420 (best viewed in full screen in Firefox). If nothing else, I think it shows how easy it can be to provide a compelling, intuitive experience to an older computer novice. I'm very excited to see what Parakey actually looks like, I see the design as much more important to their success than their cross-platorm development technology.
Blake, one thing that is necessary for you to succeed with people older than 70 is to provide alternatives to the mouse. People over a certain age just don't get it; it's too hard cognitively to translate movement on the horizontal plane to motion on a vertical screen. Touch screens are ideal but expensive. Track balls are better, because they more concretely separate the action of clicking and moving.
I applied to Y Combinator with a very similar idea to Parakey, only entirely web-based. I got an interview last funding round, but PG and company weren't convinced we had solved the design problem.
You can see a quick design demo at www.granmos.com/420 (best viewed in full screen in Firefox). If nothing else, I think it shows how easy it can be to provide a compelling, intuitive experience to an older computer novice. I'm very excited to see what Parakey actually looks like, I see the design as much more important to their success than their cross-platorm development technology.
Blake, one thing that is necessary for you to succeed with people older than 70 is to provide alternatives to the mouse. People over a certain age just don't get it; it's too hard cognitively to translate movement on the horizontal plane to motion on a vertical screen. Touch screens are ideal but expensive. Track balls are better, because they more concretely separate the action of clicking and moving.