kid

There are several kids in my life who have their own computers. They
are not sophisticated computer users: they simply do not understand
that they should not open random email files, pay attention to virus
warnings, firewall warnings, and the like; and they love to fill
every byte of drive space with music and crap. They need an OS that
takes care of the important things for them.

Their computers are antique hand-me-downs. Their main software use
includes MSN Chat, email, web browsing, file sharing, media playback,
and basic wordprocessing. The OS and software suites they currently
use are resource hogs, which means their computers are slow,
unstable, and continually problematic.

I’d love to see someone release a Un*x-based OS package that is
simple to install, has a UI designed to provide one-click access to
their primary software, is secure by default, is dead-easy to update,
sets up a drive quota such that the OS is guaranteed enough space for
its temporary files et al, yadda, yadda. It should install a default
application suite that is suitable for kids; the wordprocessing suite
could well be a simplified OpenOffice. And, of course, it should
have a UI that is simple to modify with custom icons and such; that
may end up being the big attractor over, say, WIndows.

And, heck, if it’s Un*x-based, it would be very easy to have a
parental admin account, parent-controlled IP-blocking and spam
control, and a reporting/logging system so that one can be kept aware
of what the children are viewing on the web. If one’s kid is viewing
a lot of man-on-goat porn, one may wish to know about it, so as to
nip that problem in the bud. If there’s one fault with the internet,
it’s that rare perversions can be presented as perfectly common
behaviour.

Contributed by David Priest
(sorry for the delayed post, David!)