I’m marking five years participating daily on this forum. I understand people might have different perspectives, especially those who recently got their first machine and are used to the trial Premium features. It would be at least annoying, but more likely cause for concern and suspicions.
I’ve learned a great deal about technology businesses, mostly that it is more complicated than I ever imagined. During the long wait till the production machines came out, we really did just focus on the hardware capabilities. When the pre-releases went out, we were able to discuss the software side of things a little better and it was pretty clear how minimal the control/GFUI software was but there was minimal discussion about the motion control that was largely opaque. Give it a good design and it worked very well. I remember when @dan sent us all a copy of his book, The Hot Seat. It was a wonderful gesture, but it was also an invitation for us all to understand the economics of tech companies.
There were some issues with over burning when corning with very light scores. 3D depth map engraving was there, but gradually improved. The engraving options for rasters improved over time. In the end, compared to other issues, the motion control was not as big a problem.
That is, except the alignment to the lid camera preview. They have been improving it immensely, but it rears its ugly head frequently enough. Another motional control issue is the addressable bed size, along with speeds of raster engraves. All this to say, the company has been steadily making good on the promised specs from their initial advertising, but there are things like pass through alignment that aren’t quite there yet. Folks have been focused on the GFUI changes and improvements, but forget that the greater part of the software is the motion control. And they have from day one said that motion control is cloud based. That’s the technology this whole system operates on. You may disagree with this choice, but if you buy a machine, you have got to understand that this is as significant as the difference between electric grid based trains and diesel-electric trains. The economics determine the choice, but both are valid strategies. I don’t see the utility at all for throwing in a comment to the discussion that Glowforge should have a local app. Cloud computing is the core technology at play here. It’s going to make or break the company.
All of these and others, are part of the software ecosystem. There has been a consistent call for adding features to the GFUI. Some things like the set focus were game changers. Not really necessary from a fulfilled promise perspective since anything within 1/4" was still within specs. But they kept working on it and made incremental improvements. I expect they will continue to improve and add more functionality to the basic GFUI, even as they build out more Premium Features.
And to the point: when they announce Proofgrade, I understood much better that you have to keep finding ways to add value to the hardware proposition. A tech company that sells to the general public has to find ways to generate consistent revenue in addition to selling the basic machines. Will they get to a point where subscription revenue is greater than revenue from machine sales? Great question. But from my understanding, a company just has to keep figuring this out.
It doesn’t mean it has to go back on its initial promises nor neglect its core business. It could happen, especially when the time comes for Glowforge to sell.
I’m fascinated at the many times on this forum folks don’t clearly differentiate between personal expectations/fears and what actually is the case.
@leahgee2, I appreciate your post. It is your concern that in moving to a services model, they might neglect their existing base. You state that clearly and it makes all the difference in keeping a discussion reasonable. You don’t speculate or attribute nefarious motivation where there is no clear evidence. Thanks a lot.
My experience with reserving a Glowforge in the pre-order campaign, waiting for its delivery, and final enjoyment of its use has been an overall positive experience. Glowforge a real human endeavor with real people in charge who are making real human decisions. I have no idea about other companies because I don’t follow any as much as I do Glowforge. We aren’t privy to the board meetings, but we do get a glimpse into their people who work there, especially the CEO. The have given lots of evidence that they pay attention to customers and want to make the experience amazing.
I don’t need the Premium stuff. I got along fine without it, as have lots of other folks. I don’t see them throttling down the services they have offered up to this time. Nothing I have experienced with this company gives me a worry there.
I don’t understand the marketing tactics of offering a product for $50 and then discounting it. I guess it is part of the thing. A recent shopping experience at Kohl’s enlightened me. I just don’t buy enough stuff to understanding discounting strategies. I am not surprised they are offering a premium service for design tools. Totally not necessary because you can do all this stuff in a free design program. But then, people pay for something they don’t have to do themselves. I’m still trying to understand the metrics of super computers for processing designs, but I rarely do large, complicated engraves and again, having had an early pre-release, I really just expect the minimal here.
What I am more concerned with is the consistent trickle of folks who discuss the lags with support communication. Heck, the opaque procedure between order and delivery still baffles me. In the end, they seem to make it right and my Glowforge works great. Would buy another Basic if this one goes bad. Can’t imagine not having a laser at this point in my career.
So, that was a long post and didn’t give anything new. Just another voice to dampen the resonance that comes from the shrieks of outrage.