Is there a elderly-friendly PC Interface or Operating System?

I would like to gift a laptop/netbook with internet connectivity to a couple of elderly people so that they can keep in touch with their kids though email/video chat, pay their bills online, etc.

But the typical Win XP and other OS have far too many options and cluttered interface which is intimidating to them.

Is there any operating system, or even just a theme for Win XP, that is friendly to the elderly who have little exposure to computers and other gadgets. Something that just has the basic functions—email, browser, chat, word proccessor, file manager, etc—provided upfront without too much navigation, and with easy straight-forward way of turning on and off?

Thanks for any pointers.