The Difference Between LabWindows™/CVI™, ComponentWorks and Measurement Studio

Issue Details

What is the difference between LabWindows, ComponentWorks (Legacy), ComponentWorks++ (Legacy) and Measurement Studio? How do the initial release version numbers tie together?

Solution

LabWindows refers to the NI-developed C based language: CVI. 
ComponentWorks (Legacy) was the measurement tool for Visual Basic.
ComponentWorks++ (Legacy) was the measurement tool for Visual C++. 
Measurement Studio refers to the package of tools for Visual Basic, Visual C++, and LabWindows/CVI.

When Measurement Studio 1.01 was released, it came with ComponentWorks Version 3.0, ComponentWorks++ Version 1.0 and LabWindows/CVI Version 5.5. As you can tell, this was a little confusing, so when CVI 6.0 was released, the version numbers were synchronized to all be 6.0. Because of this, there were no versions between 3.0 and 6.0 for ComponentWorks (Legacy). Also the name "ComponentWorks" has been dropped, and is now called Measurement Studio. In future releases the version numbers have increased together. The following table shows the previous version configuration. For current version information visit the Measurement Studio Life Cycle Policy page.

Additional Information

ComponentWorks is a legacy product and has been superseded by Measurement Studio.  For information on Measurement Studio legacy products, refer to the  NI Measurement Studio for Legacy Environments/Languages product and for more information on Measurement Studio, refer to the current Measurement Studio product page.

Measurement Studio no longer provides active support for Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Studio 2003, and Visual C++ MFC.  If you want to continue building or developing applications using these legacy environments/languages, you can use the NI Measurement Studio for Legacy Environments/Languages product, which includes support for these products and compatible device drivers.