I was working in the town library - I often do that, to escape the distractions of the internet and sit somewhere warm. Tapping away confidently, I turned and saw my friend Jasper had walked in with his young daughter. She ran off to the children’s section and my friend wandered over to say hello.

He drooled over my Powerbook.

“Nice machine,” he said.

Just before he’d arrived, I’d happened to hit F11 to fill my screen with miniturized Expose goodness. Jasper peered at the tiny shrunken windows and gasped: “How can you see that? It’s far too small.”

Smirking, I held down shift and hit F11 again, for the full slo-mo Expose effect. I watched his eyes pop out.

“Hey, that’s nice!” he muttered.

I was confused, though.

“I thought you had a Mac,” I said.

“Yeah I have,” he said, a strange look on his face. “But it’s - ah - old. About System 7. In fact, I’ve got two machines. One for writing, one for my email. Useless, aren’t I?”

I nodded.

He continued: “I’ve just ordered a Mac mini, though. Should arrive any day now. Perhaps you should come round and show me how things have changed. Looks like I shall need some help to bring myself up-to-date.”

I nodded again.

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Any time you like.”

So, what shall I show him? How shall I strike a balance between bringing him up-to-date, and overloading his brain?

I’ve already decided to keep things simple: show him around the new Finder, show him a browser or two (Safari and Camino, probably), and since he’s a writer, show him some writing apps. I suspect that TextEdit, plus the indispensible NanoCount, will be all he needs for most of his work.

Anything else you think he ought to know about?

Don’t be shy now.