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UK Gov't to fund easier-to-use GUIs
Up to a point, Lord Sainsbury
The UK Government today announced it will hand out £4 million to anyone who can make computers easier to use.
The grant will be administered by a quango (quasi non-governmental organisation) called People at the Centre of Communications and Information Technologies (PACCIT). It will dole out the dosh to research projects focused on the design of computer interfaces.
Here at The Reg, we feel that computers should have more flashing lights and tape spools, since that's what most folk are, after all, used to, thanks to the movies, TV, etc. If that's what you have in mind, PACCIT, please send our share of the £4 million to the usual address.
"As we depend more and more on computers and communications technology in every aspect of our everyday lives, it is important that these systems are easy to use and available to all and do not in themselves present a barrier to whatever we are trying to do," said Lord Sainsbury, the groceries magnate, as he announced the grant and his acceptance of the Basil Fawlty Award for Stating the Bleedin' Obvious.
"By bringing together multi-disciplinary teams the PACCIT programme aims to ensure that our lives are enriched by these technologies and to give us the tools which enable us to cope with complexity with minimum effort," added Lord Sainsbury.
We hope it does, but we're sceptical that any of it will every make its way into the development labs of Redmond, Cupertino, et al. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
