Protean Instrument Corporation
91
MPC
900
Guarding
Against
Obsolescence
Computer technology and software is probably the most rapidly changing industry on
the planet. Whatever you are using today will be obsolete in a few months. Our task is
to integrate an instrument designed to last a decade into an environment which changes
daily and guard against obsolescence. There are few lasting standards to aid in this
quest, especially in software.
If you wonder why we have invested so much effort in the stand-alone features of the
MPC 900, this should be a clue. The methods and procedures built into the MPC 900
are not likely to change during its useful life. In five years, however, you will probably
be on your third or fourth computer and several generations of software upgrades.
While you struggle through the new spread sheet help files to learn new syntax, macro
languages, etc.; you have the comfort of knowing that you will not have to spend weeks
rewriting operating procedures for your old alpha/beta counter. You also have the
comfort of knowing that once you master your new tools, you can use them to create
spectacular reports from the same old data imported from the same old alpha/beta
counter.
We rely on three elements to provide this guard against obsolescence. The first is our
commitment to keep the structure of the MPC 900 data records upwards compatible.
The second is a reliance on the computer industry to include a USB port on all new
computers. The third element expects that every new spread sheet package, data base
manager, etc., will be able to read and parse comma separated field text record
structure. These are very safe bets and the foundation for our computer connectivity
philosophy.
In the following pages we will describe the details of the data saved on the USB flash
drive.
