This makes sense if you look at it through your own tech-centric lenses. It seems plausible that Linux is good for a normal user when you try to put yourself in their shoes but the problem is that you can't really do that without bringing along your own knowledge and experience without realizing it. Linux is not okay for the basic user described in this post but it can be great for a lot of non techies.

"Grannies" don't like to deviate from the norm. The library has windows, friends have windows, by this point in time a person has come into contact with computers outside the home lots and they're almost always windows with an occasional Mac. You put Ubuntu on Granny's machine and she'll be asking why this doesn't look like what she saw elsewhere. Even if the function and UI are eerily similar there's this weird mental block that stops people from seeing the similarities and focus only on the differences.

The distribution described in this post is basically a Chromebook. Honestly, if your "Granny" needs email, skype, and the web then get an iPad + keyboard or a Chromebook. Not a full Linux install that you rip stuff out of. In fact, people with these granny use cases are already flocking to tablets over desktops in droves. A copy of Ubuntu "Gutsy Granny" as described here is bending a desktop to work not like a desktop save for the mouse.

I'm annoyed with the 2 mainstream OSes like anyone else and I especially hate having to troubleshoot problems that shouldn't come up for these Grannies but as annoying as it is I think switching these people to Linux is partly us trying to enlighten others (which comes off really condescendingly) and partly trying to make our lives easier rather than the user's by putting the user in the equivalent of a bubble where they can't break anything and if they do it's very convenient for us to fix.