GF didn’t change the date this week. They plugged some production numbers into a spreadsheet and the estimate was automatically refined. Bet that will happen about once a week until the numbers stabilize. Just check your date at the end of each week.
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I stand by my contention. This should absolutely be actively communicated, not passively. The reason why it changed is immaterial. Delays are a touchy topic in this little corner of the internet, and should be treated as such.
The update where @dan talked about this, he did mention that the numbers would be updated weekly. This isn’t the same as an announced delay. This is a projection of a current expectation based on current data. At least one person here has mentioned it shifting sooner. Probably others have, too. As some issues are resolved and production ramps up more, it could easily jump the other direction. I would expect that.
Will you be unhappy about it if production from next week moves you 6 weeks sooner, and the notice is the regular update to your account page? Are you asking for a weekly email update on numbers when the weekly update happens? The goalposts are being constantly moved on this. Stay quiet for various reasons, complaints. Share information consistently, complaints. Have a weekly update to your account that you can look at, complaints Dan can’t even break even in that environment, forget winning. He’s not giving up. He’s pushing, and the company is producing an excellent product. They will keep at it until all the products are delivered to all the customers, and if that can be done sooner than the current projections, it absolutely will be.
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I just deleted my exceptionally long response. But let’s just say your response of “maybe I shouldn’t have given estimates then” is so far off the mark. I would be embarrassed if I gave that response. That’s not how to treat your customers that have more patience than any I have ever seen, and anyone should ever have to. I can’t wait for my Glowforge, but if you’re going to push back my date by two weeks just two weeks into the estimate after all of these delays, what’s the point of it? By now you should know. And while we’re at it, can you use actual shipping dates rather than email dates?
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This is my favorite so far. Glowforge didn’t change the date – their computer did!!!
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You can make fun if you want. But there is a huge difference between the previous way of estimating and the current system. We have no idea as to how accurate the new system will be. The dates may be reasonably accurate if your estimate is in the next week or so. But as the estimate moves out in time it will be less and less accurate. It is intended to become more accurate as more data is fed into the system. If the system operates as it should the dates will change regularly. I don’t want an email every time the date changes by a couple days or even a couple weeks. It will both stoke anticipation and disappointment depending on which way it moves.
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I just got my email. Yahoo!!!
@dan … the do you want your Glowforge info incorrectly says …
Your Glowforge Air Filter is scheduled to ship no later than the end of December 2017. In the meantime, you will need a window or a 4” dryer vent to operate your Glowforge printer.
Also the actual email has the word Proograde trademarked. Hehe
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Just finding humor in an otherwise really humorless situation. It’s been a really looooong wait and the natives are getting restless.
A window or a 4" dryer vent? Shouldn’t it be a window and a 4" dryer vent?
Could be. Not everyone uses a window. I didn’t. Vented separately but exactly the same hose type and vent type as my actual dryer 8 ft away.
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Yes, but a window by itself-- without a hose --would be of little help to venting a laser cutter.
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Oh. We are talking two different things. To me, this is a 4" hose attached to a 4" dryer vent.
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I did this today. I forgot to put the hose out the window, and cut some paper.
The Smoke detectors got angry for a few minutes.
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I forgot to open the damper once… or twice. 
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I’m not sure why that came across the way it did. I try to acknowledge when I do something that might have been a mistake. Please let me know why it felt off the mark so I can understand why I let you down with that comment.
We’re doing what so many of you asked - giving the most accurate information we have. If your delivery date is 10 weeks out and our production is 10% off forecast this week, then the math says that the date’s going to move a week. The next week it might move back. This will happen constantly to anyone with an outstanding order. If it were me, I would ignore the date and wait for an email notification - but I acknowledge that other people want different things than I do. We spent a long time building this forecast because it’s something people have asked for over and over again… but I realize it may not be what you wanted, and as I said before, it may have been a mistake to build it at all.
No; we know the date that we send you the email, but we don’t know how long you’ll take to respond, or how many people respond at the same time you do, or where you’re going to tell us to ship it, or a huge number of other factors that we’d need to forecast that accurately.
Thank you! Will investigate.
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I’m not sure how credible I can be, as I have one of these great machines. But, if I didn’t, I’d want what you just provided: the most current information you have according to what the factory tells you and whatever other factors that I can’t think of.
Since I do have my machine, can I just request more hours in the day? Maybe somebody to take care of all the other stuff going on so I can focus a little better on using the laser?
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Yes, after my time waiting, I’d be thrilled to have the projection system in place if I didn’t have my unit. Most of my letdown was waiting for the nearing of an anticipated date, then having a delay announced. Something that flexed with actual production and did its best estimation of even within a week of when I would expect my email would have thrilled me from day one of shipping Basics. Now I’m waiting on a filter, and that date probably won’t show much fluctuation for a month or two. (I still peek periodically, just because that is me.)
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The stand-up position at this stage would be true commitment to dates, rather than shifting blame back on the customers for not being able to tell the difference between an estimate and a committed date. Which is just so ironic when you’re nearly two years past your original commitments. And also, when you have the MOST patient and supportive customers on the planet. And the stand-up date to use would be an expected ship date, which, since you are not in control over email response time, could reasonably change, but not conceivably possible to change as much as the nearly two years of delay your best customers have endured.
Just a few weeks ago I was still expecting a November “email” that was then estimated to mid March, and quickly pushed back to the end of March. How could you still be promoting and showing off these Glowforges at Maker Faire, and then tell us right after that we have to wait much longer still?
These kiddies were even more excited after seeing these things at Maker Faire, and have been waiting patiently while the projects we’ve planned together have been pushed back further. You owe them more than you owe me. And I’ll never get that year back with my kids. That year is gone. This was their excitement when we thought we were just a month away, a few weeks ago.
But alas, I’m still excited about the product that you originally promised, and I will wait so that I don’t ultimately have to wait even longer. Even though I truly have no idea how long I’ll be continuing to wait.
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The one on the left is the one that wants to be a cardiac surgeon?
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It sure is! 
Her wall has big posters of anatomical diagrams She was so inspired by meeting you! Thank you!
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