Instrumentation VI: What users like and dislike; need and can't get: Basic satisfaction with test equipment is tempered with a need for more self-checking, reliability, and human factors engineering

Such is the aggregate fantasy of the user of instruments, as determined by a comprehensive Spectrum survey the details of which are described in the box below. Specifically, while most instrument users are reasonably content with the current breed of instruments that cross their work benches, they are at the same time demanding in their expectations of a future breed of instrument. For one thing, they see down time as reducible and accuracy as open to improvement. For another, they expect an ever-decreasing cost/performance ratio. Again, they may be pleased by the recent trend toward increasing portability, but they are far from satisfied with overall instrument design (human engineering). And finally, there are persistent complaints regarding documentation — be it product manuals, programming instructions, etc. — and field representatives. But first the good news ...