Funkyfogey.com A hit or a miss??

This is a quote from BrandRepublic "Eagle Star, Virgin Wines and Waitrose are among brands targeting middle-aged internet users via a website being marketed direct to more than 1m homes. Funkyfogey.com provides over-45s with an online community, where they can buy branded goods and services across sectors including leisure and financial services.
The travel section provides links to brands including Opodo and Air France"

A simple idea. A portal site that resembles a High Street, with a few bits of content a forum and then links to the web sites of the companies paying for position. For the really ancient readers it is similar to a site called BarclaySquare (launched 1995).

The brief to the designers must have been "keep the interface really simple and non frightening". Have a look and tell me what you think Funkyfogey.com.

My take on it is:

It is Flash based site - not in my mind a good thing for the target audience

It requires registration before entry to the site, but gives no word of explanation. Not a good idea

It provides no details about who runs the site and relies for credibility on the names of the companies on the "high street". You might be able to get away with this.

It is so simplistic and rustic that I believe a lot of the young-old will feel it to be patronising.

No doubt the site is aimed at the non or rare Internet users in the 45+ age group.I suspect that the Flash and registration barriers will be too much for them.

Anyway I would like to hear from readers of this blog with their opinions. I will keep an eye on the funkyfogey to see how it develops. Dick Stroud: www.20plus30.com