Are there periodic updates available?

The most recent info we have is two months old today. Been a dry spell as far as news. A couple of teasers but that’s about it.

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Mark welcome to the forum!

I think all of us would like more updates especially as the shipping date is getting closer. There are several reasons that is not happening.

  1. The Glowforge team is small (but growing) and focused on product development, not hanging out in the forum. While this is painful for us that are waiting, I’m glad to see that they are focused on work and not just spending time with us.
  2. There are intellectual property concerns if the team provides to much information here that can be read by the general public.

Like so many of us here in the forum are doing, just keep the faith that all is on track otherwise we would have received an updated status at the top of the forum.

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I’m not cancelling my order, but even small, incremental updates quell the impatient.

Hearing details of things that are getting resolved builds confidence, while expressing some of the challenges provides insights into the complexity of such a project.

He doesn’t have to give away IP in order to do any of this. It was a community driven project…the community deserves a little more than once every two months for their contributions… IMHO.

Glowforge was never a Community Driven Project which is defined as:

Community-driven development (CDD) is an approach that gives control over planning decisions and investment resources for local development projects to community groups.

It was a crowdfunding campaign which is defined as:

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people.

Big difference. By buying into the project, all you, as the buyer, was promised was a discount on the finished product. Never was there any mention of being part of the development or promise of receiving information.

@dan has been overly gracious with being on this forum and giving updates on what he can.

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Interesting clarification there. When I originally bought in, the primary reason I was doing it was to see the process and try to help make sure it got made (ie, as though it were a CDD).

Lesson learned. It’s unfortunate, but it does put a different light on things.

fwiw, they should put YOUR summary into the latest updates…

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Honestly the best thing to do is to join in on the discussions on the forum… it’s the best way to stay sane and know that things are progressing. @Dan pops in often so we know/hope he’s not on some remote island living large on the crowdfunded money…lol :laughing:

Hi Mark! Welcome to the forum - where all of us lament our lesson in patience!

I’m thinking that is exactly the kind of information that would benefit any manufacturer trying to play “catch up”.
If it were my ground breaking project, I would be very careful about giving any competition a leg up, as @Just-Maken-It said.

Glowforge had already secured 9 million in funding to operate for a couple of years prior to opening “pre-sales” to us, so in my mind the project was driven by the founders Dan, Mark and Tony.

Yes, our 27 million in contributions greatly facilitated the evolution of glowforge and llikely enabled adding to it’s feature set, but given that we were offered the opportunity to purchase at a greatly reduced price, and are guaranteed a refund upon request, I don’t think we are in a position to require anything from them except a fully functional machine as soon as they are able to deliver it.

Believe me my friend, everyone here is just as anxious as you for any tidbit of information, however your point is well taken. We feel your pain.

In the last update gave a few details, but it was the “still on schedule” that left me feeling much better!
… and I could use another!! :pray:

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Welcome @mark.young to participation in the forum. The whole community developed thing got a lot of discussion in January and February, especially as people would call it a Kickstarter program when it never was. Even the development was not crowd funded. As best as I can recollection from forum discussions, the pre-order period was a good way to assess the market potential and guide manufacturing capacity. I assume that the Glowforge founders were just blown away by the response. Exactly what they were thinking then will be fascinating to learn, other than just the surprise that expectations were met and exceeded. So what obligations are they under? I believe that they have some serious karma to work out from under in that they have a decent bit of money from their customer. There needs to be reassurance along the way that what they are doing in the meanwhile is productive enough to balance out whatever positive good we would have managed to achieve with that money had we put it toward some other project/tool/investment. I can’t tell you what details should be forthcoming, but I think that a timely burst of information will go a long way to balancing out that karma. We really are in the dark about some significant issues, especially folks who have special shipping requirements. There is a lot of trust and good will at play here. So far the balance is still in the positive, but the energy is gathering exponentially. If there is another delay, it might not be too fun to be around here any more.

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Exceedingly few companies warn people when they are struggling, so while you are entitled to bestow them with as much faith as you want, there is literally no reason to do so.

If the delivery date has slipped, I doubt we’ll hear about it before June (not that I would particularly mind if it had - the GF is not a trivial project; there will be hiccups)

If Glowforge were the type to give regular, frank updates then you could reasonably expect regular, frank updates to the shipping schedule too, but they aren’t so you can’t.

I don’t think additional delays are necessarily a problem. But if we don’t hear about it until the last minute, then it will be followed by a sudden outburst of disappointment and frustration.

Hopefully if there are going to be further delays then we will hear about them via gradual updates with plenty of time to spare

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Unfortunately I canceled my order which included the filter due the to the lack of real updates. I can’t afford to have $3000 sitting out there on loan until the end of the year with little to no current updates.

when did you place your order?

Mid February.

Sorry to see you go. I purchased in the original croudfunding and fully understand the wait required.

For future individuals considering requesting a refund just keep in mind that the first units are due by the end of June. What better update than seeing the first customers show them off? you can get a refund all the way up to the day you provide your shipping info.

Just a thought.

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Thanks, my refund was very quick and they seem to be responsive in that regard but even ordering in Feb, I really don’t have the desire to wait until Oct-Dec when it was originally suppose to be July - Sept. If there were regular proactive updates and visuals of what is happening on beta machines I’d think about it.

I think is fair to say that even those of us with a generally positive view of the project think that the company is being unnecessarily closed of late.

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I like the concept of the machine itself I think it can be a good product. When we found it online my wife and I were really excited to find a low cost easy to use laser. If I was was assured that it could cut the 6-7 oz leather that I need cut I’d consider it but it hasn’t been proven out for me and the lack of updates is disheartening.

According to Dan, 6 oz is easy.

6-7 oz veg tan is easy. Other tanning processes, you’ll have to experiment with

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+1