> The guy giving the talk said that their average employee is already confused if some icons on the desktop change and they are very reluctant to accept changes.

This accurately describes my dealings with non-technical people over 50. My parents - now in their late 50s and early 60s - have both worked with computers since the 80s. They worked in the administration of the government and a major bank. Yet they are having a really hard time switching from their previous computer (Windows Vista) to their new one (Windows 7 - I specifically avoided 8 because of the bigger UI changes).

Things like icons being organized differently, bookmarks being missing (how else would you navigate to Facebook or Gmail - the services they use most?) or their homepage changing. Things that seem beyond trivial for us, can pose a significant roadblock for people who didn't grow up with computers all around them.

Forget making fun of people Googling for "facebook" or "gmail" instead of using the simple URLs. A lot of people have a hard time even figuring out they can search for these terms.