Yes, I found that turning of traces cuts down the CPU use. But still, not for me. The old soft front panels do what I want, with a fraction of the resources. Replacements for bench instruments. You flip on the switches in the morning, pick up the probes and expect them to work. I'm concerned that these (or similar) soft panels will still be around, developed. It was a wake-up call when the Icons where replaced with InstrumentStudio, pointing to .exe files with identical names but in other directories. (The old school ones are still under .../IVI/Drivers/...) These hardware systems are investments expected to be used for years, not just the latest PCs.... and when there's a need for something more advanced, there's other tools, LabView, source code etc.
I also think there'd also interest in lightweight solutions for basic instruments running on mobile phones, Rasberry Pies, Beaglebones... etc....
My2c
