Comment on Bambu Lab Controversy Deepens: Firmware Update Sparks Backlash
Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days agoIt’s also the only way they have to act against the change, which might cause enough users to protest, which might (temporarily) get Bambu to back out. Or delay at least. Probably not, but again it’s their only option.
If they go along with it, the users that could or would proper will just use Orca until inevitably Bambu also removes that possibility, then everyone is fucked anyway.
What percentage of Bambu users are using Orca? Single digit percentage? Maybe barely double digit? It’s probably not gonna change anything in the end. Clearly this has always been their plan.
I always thought their entire product strategy was clearly designed to be an eventually rug pull just like this, which is why I never got one. Other people that care about fully owning and controlling their devices probably didn’t either, or that number might be higher.
illegible@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
I’d argue that 5-10% are some of their most valuable users though. The creative one that make models, run YouTube channels or influence purchasing decisions for schools or businesses. Voron has a huge name in the business without spending a penny on advertising due to those people. While they make the best bang for the buck printers out there right now, they can be easily knocked off their perch if they’re not careful. What open source hath given them, open source can taketh away. e.g. look at all the upcoming multi filament solutions in the works.
j4k3@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Voron carries the original community torch that started all of this with RepRap and Adrian Bowyer. That is not some minor guerilla thing around Voron specifically. It grew out of the era when Prusa started making excuses and doing anti community stuff. Like they are still great, but not for the same reasons that built them. You can’t build Prusa firmware and mod it easily like with a Marlin config or Klipper. And the Mini is a custom hacked Marlin config that looks nothing like Marlin at all. That killed community contributions and the iterative nature of open source. The offshoots and side projects of Voron used to exist around Prusa and were around RepRap before that. Joseph got his start with RepRap selling kits on the side. That is where the MKx nomenclature comes from.
Adrian Bowyer broke what was a stratasys commercial monopoly and singlehandedly built the open source community and entire hobby. If Adrian did not exist, there would be no hobby 3d printing at all. The whole thing is due to this open source project and the community it built. That is why Bambu is hated so much. They are a stratasys like parasite here to exploit and oppress as a capitalist cancer. They are the ultimate type of leopard eating face buy.
Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
While I agree with the most valuable users statement, I can’t imagine that is how they see it. Or that they even should realistically care from a purely financial standpoint. Most users buy their printers and just use them with whatever software came with them. And most of those didn’t even watch or read reviews. Or worse: they did, and possibly heard about the firmware and online thing and just didn’t care.
I disagree with your second part though. Voron is only relevant for the complete opposite end of the spectrum. People who are multi-discipline tinkerers (electronics, hardware, …) and capable and interested in building their own printer. Actual overlap with all Bambu customers is probably sub-1%. The commercial printers that are Voron-adjacent (inspired by or based on the design in some way) still have a different demographic and severely lack in software polish and especially out of the box experience. It isn’t remotely close. Even if they innovated over night and made it even with Bambu, there is nothing that would cause that to be actually relevant in the market without millions in marketing. They might be able to gain momentum, but only slowly and I highly doubt they can catch up to Bambu momentum even in years.
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 2 days ago
The overlap might be greater than you think. I hesitated to buy my P1S but in the end bought it with a view to printing Voron parts and eventually having best of both worlds, felt like I was never going to get my CR10-S to where I wanted it to be. As it turns out I’m a serial 3D printer starter lol. I’ll get to the Vorons, but I’m feeling the pull of the Rook MK1 right now.