Believe it when I tell you that the automation vendors take the results of our annual Readers' Choice balloting pretty seriously. More than a few product managers and marketeers alike get a bit nervous about how the voting might go.

We'll be posting the results of this year's Product Research and Buying Habits Study shortly.

We're about to close the study, so if you had intentions to add your voice, tempus fugit, folks, and a carpe diem for good measure. But here's an interesting preliminary result for those of you who've participated. The rest of you, avert your eyes.

If you're a subscriber to Control Design or registered visitor to ControlDesign.com, and you're a machine builder or system integrator, you should have received my email invitation to participate in our study about how you do automation product research these days.

If you're a machine builder or system integrator who works with one, we want to learn about the methods you prefer to use when you do your automation and control products research. If you didn't receive the study link in your email, here it is.

....from the ongoing Buying Habits study....

.........of some early returns from our annual Product Research and Buying Habits study, turned up one finding that surprised me.