Interactive Computer Graphics Applications for Program Management.

While the use of interactive graphics is fairly well established in the scientific field, managerial applications are still in an embryonic stage of development. Two reasons for this became apparent. First, there has been a general reluctance on the part of managers, themselves, to become involved in the design of application software. Second, the cost of most computer systems has been too high, in the past, to allow for the acquisition of unproven computer capabilities in the budgets of all but the largest companies. Research results also indicate that the computer industry is placing its emphasis on improvements in hardware technology rather than on software design. Marketing brochures underscore the widespread availability of equipment and a disheartening lack of commercially available business application software. Until management becomes convinced that interactive graphics capabilities can be a practical and economical aid to decision-making and becomes involved in the development of software packages, we will not see rapid and widespread growth in this area.