Ok, I guess a definition is required for the term "VISA" because I think we are on 
different wavelengths. When I speak of VISA, I
mean any call (from LabVIEW) of the "VISA Read" and "VISA Write" functions. 
Distribution of the VISA support files are a different
story. You can use NI's method or cook-up your own (I use installshield). Regardless, 
you are still obligated by NI licencing and
distribution requirements. I don't want to start another licencing thread...

> I fairly sure that for the correct platform you can embed the 
> VISA libraries in an executable,

This is the first time I hear of this. Embed? Meaning no external DLL's or support 
files? Even if this is true, you still have to
have a valid VISA distribution licence. 

> for other platforms your 
> requirements may mean that you are on your own to build 
> something that is different than most people need or want.
> VISA is not "needed" it is just most convenient.

Yes, I see now that it is not needed. There apparently are other none NI solutions 
that incorporate external DLL's, ActiveX
controls, .NET assemblies etc. (how about the Mac?). Are any of these Opensource? ;-)

Michael Aivaliotis


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