NO!

Please do not give them any ideas:

Citizen Kane? Please walk this way. At 08:46:32 you were observed walking past the grocery on 42nd street, right behind Citizen 034564, which has been diagnosed with the disease called common cold. You will be put in quarantine for two weeks.

NO! Please keep all references to xkcd, and not to Dilbert as well ( http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-05-08/ ). ;-0

Last year, I was in your situation: I wanted to give my father a tablet.
The then best tablet (Nexus 7, 2012 model) was the first Android that I considered giving my father (he's from 1940, not tech-savvy at all: the laptop that my parents had was only used by my mother).
He took a look at it, shrugged and said 'I will never use it'.

The first app I installed on it for him was a teletext app, with which he could read teletext. (I know, not the first app I would use myself). But he used it.
And now it is difficult for him to leave home without it: it is as if he wants to sleep with it;-0

Since the first Nexus 7, there are other good tablets out there. I guess the Nexus 7 model 2013 is still unbeatable in terms of price/quality ratio, so I would suggest him that. Possible reasons to go for Android and not iOS:
- there is a growing number of people using Android. His grandchildren, having a cheap Android phone can help if anything is amiss
- the price/quality ratio is good
- I am using it myself.

Now, if you are a heavy iOS person, you may be better of choosing an iPad: you would then be more at home with it, and help if necessary. But my personal experience is that the Android version that came with the first Nexus 7 was that 'intuitive' that my father used it instantly.

Have mod points, but will post instead:
Although your '...year of the Linux desktop' is a very old statement, my observation is that now (end of 2013/start of 2014) is indeed the year of the Linux desktop.
Just as last year, with the Nexus 7, it was the first time I felt comfortable giving a "non-iPad" tablet to my father, this time
when their XP laptop died, it was the first time I actually considered giving them a laptop with Linux on it. So I searched for that lone laptop which still had Windows 7 (and hence: no UEFI problems), installed Linux Mint on it (for the cureous: Mint Cinnamon, Petra, RC at the time), and let them loose with it. And so far they are really happy with it.
The reasons I could do this were:
- Linux Mint is a simpler experience then Windows 8(.1) and looks close enough to XP;
- Libre office (writer, calc) look close enough to the office version they had previously.
It is/was the first time I knew that giving them Linux + Libre office was a better choice then giving them Windows 8(.1) and the ribbon...

And this from someone that hasn't really used Linux since those early years when you downloaded Slackware on 40+ floppy's, and who uses a (Windows 7, fortunately) laptop from my employer.

The real question is, of course, if Slashdot is using mySQL as well.

(Don't bother: if you did not read the article, you will not understand the comment)

Do not worry, there is a dutch version as well: http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/11/30/aivd-hackt-internetfora-tegen-wet-in/

I was actually planning to mod this thread, until I saw your comment.
I think you are mistaken: my guess is that parent is NOT talking about any "real" tax (that goes to the Australian taxoffice), but the discussed 'feature' that American companies tend to ask for higher prices for digital goods in non-American places...
See e.g. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/02/11/0159255/australian-govt-forces-apple-adobe-microsoft-to-explain-price-hikes

Sorry, Linus is not Donald Knuth ( http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=TeXfuture )

A name is something OTHERS use to identify you. If I read the summary right (no need to read that article), they are not suggesting that OTHER wolves are imitating a howl to identify another wolf.
Said differently: the howl is like a fingerprint (although an audible one) in that it can be used to identify the owner of said howl.

In true /. tradition, I did not read the article. So perhaps the article contradicts me, but just bases upon the summery I could give an alternative explanation:
It could have been that the following two things are true:
1. IE is terrible in use. It is that horrible to work with that an average person browsing the web for 20 hours with IE reads only half the pages compared to an average person using Chrome or Firefox.
2. IE is terrible in powermanagement. Within that 20 hour period, it will use almost the same amount of energy to load and display the pages as Chrome and Firefox use to load and display double that number of pages. Compared to - say - Firefox this is partly true because the average Firefox user reads less ads (through extensions such as add-blockers) and hence less information had to be downloaded, and less flashy ads have to be shown.

Actually read the article (I know, against /. policy ;-0), read most of the comments, and nowhere read anything about it possible being related to the patriot act. I happen to know that the patriot act is (one of) the reason(s) the Dutch government will not enter into an agreement with American hosting providers, surely the British have similar reservations?
(And yes, the article is scarce on facts, so cannot check whether all American companies are excluded, but heck: so could none of the other people posting a reply).

So:
MY guess is that the patriot act played a mayor role in letting this business opportunity slip trough the fingers of american companies...

Yes, Steve never heard of Moscow ( http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/post/32026616219/red-square-moscow-russia ) or London ( http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/post/31978335213 ).

And I am assuming Kennedy would never had said 'Ich bin ein Berliner' ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH6nQhss4Yc ) , had he looked at iOS6 ( http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/post/31970259679/berlin-antarctica ).

I am sorry. According to long standing slashdot tradition, there HAS to be a "?????" step.
I do agree though, the ??? steps seems to be unnecessary, and normally it stops at '5 Profit!!!!!!!!!!' so perhaps GP needs to amends its version (perhaps letting 3 or 4 out of his (?her?) post.

--
Yes, I am kidding ;-0

I see things differently.
Yes, everybody has opinions. You have them. PJ has them. I have them. If you agreed to 'everything' on Groklaw, you might actually share many of my opinions, although perhaps not all (not everything I care about is discussed on Groklaw).

The 'consensus' on Groklaw seems to be that claiming (software) patents are a 'bad' thing. I happen to agree.
I did read Groklaw on this case the last few days, and did find interesting facts in there. As to whether everything reported is 'true', that is hard to verify from here; I did for instance not hear any of the jurors myself, so cannot testify as to how any statements could or should be explained. But discussing HOW they could be interpreted seems legitimate enough.

The results so far are, from an "anti software patents view", not reassuring. Can everything work out right in the end? Who knows. Not upholding the iPad 'trade dress' may be a light in the dark. This might in the end lead to the abolishment of software patents. But who knows, SCOTUS has neglected to rule on things which in my opinion are 'bad laws', and software patents in the States may live another 10-20 years.

Am I disappointed (in the jury)? Yes.
Could something have been wrong with the way the jury came to a conclusion? Yes.
May it be a vector to research and discuss? Yes. I see NOTHING wrong in discussing this.

I see nothing wrong with the discussions on Groklaw on this point. I realize many people here on Slashdot are Apple fans, and as such anything Apple may do will recieve positive feedback from a large crowd.
Do I think those people are wrong? Yes, I do.
Do I believe these people are astroturfing/are shills? No, the way I see it, many people convinced of 'the Apple way' are so from conviction. From the active way you participate in this discussion (many times with +3 or +5 insightful), I guess you (and others) may be very disappointed with the fact that Groklaw mostly took a position opposite to yours.
The fact that you agreed previously with Groklaw may make this more emotional with you, I guess 'wrong' opinions by people or groups respected by you comes harder. I do, however, see a trend at Groklaw, which only could lead to it taking the stand that it took (and takes): software patents are bad, anyone using them to stifle innovation or competition should be frowned upon, and any legal arguments against this should be investigated.

I write this post, trying to avoid letting this be seen as an 'ad hominem' attack on you.
I do, however, believe that your attack here on Groklaw is misplaced. If you see any factual errors, please state them on Groklaw, as far as I know dissenting opinions are given enough room.