A lot of people (probably) would have chipped in and be happy with a half-backed first-generation product. People loved the Ender 3 and even accepted the Anet A8 which would catch fire if not modified because it was all they could afford/buy.

Look no further than Micronics sift bin. It was jankey but it was what it took to hit this price point and people accepted it.

All of the buzz was about SLS being finally headed toward enthusiasts and small businesses. Adoption/market size getting bigger and suddenly good SLS is affordable in the near future. All of this was killed with this acquisition as FormLabs is the wrong company for this trajectory. Even the fact that FormLabs is asking $4k for the * privilege * to use third-party materials is a strong indicator.

Do we expect anytime soon that FormLabs will beat what is already out there? Sinterit Lisa: $10k: sinterit.com/3dprinters/lisa/

My money is on that the next/first budget SLS will be made and engineered in China. I don’t know who will be next but it likely won’t be another startup in the west.

The whole ecosystem here in the West doesn’t favour starting up. It’s not easy to do it in China either, but the whole supply chain is there (as such also the knowledge/support) and the business environment makes it more likely for it to happen there.