I have a nasty habit of giving technology gifts to people for Christmas. It sometimes winds up taking a nontrivial amount of time just to get the recipient off the ground and using the gift. It usually pays off, in the sense that the recipients tend to wind up learning enough to use the gift on their own. But it does kind of make Christmas a bit of a bussman’s holiday.
I’ve had good luck with Apple hardware in the past; my grandparents seem to be able to get e-mails in and out on their eMac. But I’ve had bad experiences with them and others as well. Then the gift keeps on giving all year ’round – giving tech support requests, that is…
I’m sure the designated geek in every [gift-giving] family has this problem. Any good stories out there? Are there any gifts that work particularly well or particularly poorly?