Several years ago a manufacturer of software-based electronic instrumentation products launched a successful marketing program centered on the phrase, "The Software is the Instrument." Last week, I attended a user conference hosted by that same company, which now is pursuing a much larger vision of the role of software intelligence in the engineering and scientific world.

You may or may not be familiar with the company, but it's clearly on track to become the "Microsoft" of motion. And there's a good chance that its programming software -- working over, around, and through the many fine electrical and mechanical motion system components available today -- will ignite an explosion of intelligent motion machines that drive the high-tech plants and factories of tomorrow.

Even if I'm only partly right, we all need to brush up on our computer programming. You heard it here first -- the software will be the motion.

The time has come.

In 2007, Motion System Design will launch a special publication with a dedicated website, targeting the needs of system engineers in this important area. Give me a call if you want to learn more about this, or better yet, just keep your eye on MSD.