The problem with "going extinct" is that there's a hell of a lot of (now affordable) test gear on the market that's GPIB programmable.

Most of this stuff is much better quality than comparable, late-model "hobby-grade" test equipment. Thus, it behooves the experimenter to extract the full potential of such.

Scariest thing I've seen in a long time? An Ethernet-connected, $200K DSO running embedded Windows XP. With nothing more than a running copy of BackTrack or a similar hacker's toolkit, I can destroy that instrument with little difficulty.

I'll take the older stuff, thank you very much.