[PLUG] Has this been done already?

[FloydLJohnsonIII@aol.com]

In the hour or so after the last meeting, I posed a theory as to how to get "Joe Six-Chip" into Linux. This involves a program which, as far as the novice is concerned, is an Internet all-in-one like AOL.

This reproduces the selling point thereof:ultra-simplicity/perceived ease of use. Under the hood, the "brightly colored buttons" invoke the relevant preexisting stuff. For instance:
-"Connect to Internet Service Provider"=execvp("wvdial",envp,P_NOWAIT), or "penggy" (thank you, )
-"Compose/Send or Read Mail" launches PINE or whatever in like manner

The technical issues I see include:
-stdin/stdout redirects to the parent process
-programmatically monitoring spawned processes, and asking the user's permission to kill a runaway browser/mail client/etc. 

The key questions are:
1. Has such an "Internet control center" already been done?
2. If not, what should be the shape of the thing?
3. How would configuration be as "painless" (what may be easy for you may not be so easy for the set-in-their-ways) as possible?
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