> AMMRLers:
>
> ...BUT, I recently discovered that we did not receive the customary and
> usual assortment of manuals either on CD-ROM (which is a convenient and
> standard way vendors distribute it seems) or even a complimentary copy. I
> don't know what specific manuals we are missing but expected at a minimum
> the console, bridge, and power supply schematics, various technical
> manuals, and, perhaps, a more complete user manual, console features, etc..
> The usual stuff, the stuff Bruker has always supplied, and the stuff the
> epr division under Art Heiss has done an admirable job with.
>
> When we inquired about this apparent lack we were told that (I parapharase)
> "...it is recent corporate (i.e., from the mothership) policy *NOT* to
> provide these manuals in any form to our customers...this policy first
> instituted in nmr division and now applied across the other instrument
> lines including epr..."
Chris,
The manuals (schematics, etc) are, in my opinion, an essential part of any
complex, long-lifetime scientific instrument. Even if we don't really
need the hardware documenation right now, we will be desperate for it in a
few years when things start breaking.
Comprehensive, accurate documentation is expensive to produce, but it
seems inconceivable that the manufacturer could have
designed/assembled/tested the instrument without it .... or could expect
to provide service the future. If it already exists, why should it not
also be in the hands of the end-user? We should, of course, be prepared
to accept the costs of reproducing it.
There seems to be a trend towards equipment/software with "no user
servicable parts inside" (Windows NT... whoops don't let me get started
on Microsoft!). I think it is mistake in the long run to let vendors
deliver major scientific instruments without documentation of the
internals. Even if the manufacturer offers a reasonable case for
maintaining a service monopoly, what happens when the manufacturer goes
extinct, as happened with GE NMR Instruments?
Don't leave it to chance: spell out your manual/schematics requirements
up front on the purchase order. Instrument buyers should refuse to place
the order if the vendor won't comply. Once the order has been accepted,
there is little recourse.
--Mike
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Michael Strain strain@mango.uoregon.edu
Institute of Molecular Biology desk/voice-mail: 541-346-4605
& Department of Chemistry FAX: 541-346-5891
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
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