Been about a year or two, Stocking inventory for businesses that use Glowforge

I’ve had good result with glow forge for over 2 years.

Every time I come to look in the shop, so much product is out of stock. I switched suppliers about a year ago, however I’m starting to get nervous about long term support software wise with so many things out of stock from 2019 to 2020.

Has there been any commitment to open source the software for offline operation if things go tits up?

Hope the glow forge team is aware of this obvious blight, some people depend on this wonderful tool (and supplies) for business.

No, there has not been further action on an offline operation option from what I have heard.

That is an interesting parallel to draw. The online material store has been hit by COVID in both supply shortages because they can’t get stuff as fast as they want and because people are buying more. There is no connection between the Glowforge software support and the availability of material stock. The material is made for GF by another company and GF is pretty much at the mercy of the supply chain, which has been hit by COVID as have all supply chains. Laser material is in short supply everywhere.

If you are depending on GF to support your business you are in need of a wake up call. You need a backup plan for when your machine goes down or when you can’t get material. GF is currently running several weeks for all replacement parts and even longer for repairs.

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Glowforge: Customers will advocate for you if you seem more reliable in your supply chain.

Still happy, but reluctant to recommend.

I personally don’t see a correlation between material supplies being short (especially during a pandemic) and software support, but yes, GF said very very on that they will release their firmware if they go belly-up. Here’s the link to the announcement from Dan. :slight_smile:

By posting this here you’ve opened an official support ticket that a staff member has to address, so it might be best to move this to a more appropriate category like “Everything Else”. I’ll be happy to do that for you if you like?

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There is also a group planning to be able to operate if some future pandemic destroys civilization.

We’re seeing record demand and are working around the clock to get and keep Proofgrade materials and spare parts in stock. As others mentioned, the pandemic has disrupted supplies around the world, and our operations team cannot travel to meet with suppliers the way they normally do. We’re working on the puzzle and want you to have access to what you need when you need it!

The most current information we have about firmware is available here: https://glowforge.com/latest-improvements/publishing-our-firmware

Thanks everyone for the discussion.

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