Thank Christ, another IT mag….

Hoorah for metrics everywhere, IDG is really starting to take Ol’ Blighty seriously with a UK version of the chart-topping US IT magazine Computerworld.

The new publication (well, website, paper is bloody expensive you know) is being edited by Mike Simons, formally news editor at Chinook Weekly.

In the UK IDG already has the unsexy, but actually quite good, Techworld (about the world of technology) and the remodelled CIO Magazine (which is a magazine aimed at CIOs). Computerworld sits somewhere between the two, but won’t be sitting at www.computerworld.co.uk.

Yes, as though “CIO Magazine” didn’t already spoil the genes of the Techworld and Computerworld family, the logical URL is already taken up by a company based just off the Almondsbury Interchange (J16, M5) that has been providing business services in the UK for over 20 years.

Probably a nice place to work as it’s headquartered from a country manor and obviously enjoys the occasional stroke of good luck as “ComputerWorld is a customer service organisation that happens to be in the computer industry.” Extremely fortunate, because otherwise it would have a vastly inappropriate name.

Now this could be a huge billion dollar turnover company (doubtless “the industry’s best kept secret,” should it ever issue a PR brief). After all it already has the power to make Bristol considerably closer to London but the chances are it isn’t.

Which makes you wonder why IDG has opted for www.computerworlduk.co.uk instead of simply steamrollering a sweet innocent nice firm like any global organisation should do. There again, perhaps it should have simply bought Computing off of VNU before 3i got it and saved everyone a lot of trouble.

Ah well, clunky UK web address aside, at last there’s a UK tech publication the Yanks can instantly get their heads around instead of UK PRs having to put cover-your-arse-it’s-The-Register American phrases like “irreverent humor” into their briefing documents.

Mike’s already canvassing content, which you can submit through the oddly familiar looking cwuknews@idg.co.uk ....