If Glowforge, the company, were to dissolve or go out of business, what would happen to the network that the printer owners depend on to use their machines? Will the machines quit working or will their be other resources for the owners?
This has been discussed quite a bit over the past 5 years. Glowforge has stated that the machines will continue to function even if the company fails and that the software would be available. There is no guarantee, but no reason to believe the company will fail.
Thanks, I was just curious about it since I keep running into questionable things with shipping and customer service.
None of the important software has been released. I think it’s likely they can’t simply release it all, because it probably has intellectual property entanglements. Without that code, it would be a massive undertaking for anyone to create a replacement for the current Glowforge functionality from scratch. As it is, we don’t even have access to modify the firmware of our machines.
If the company were on the verge of shutting down, I don’t see them having the motivation or resources to go through all the code and sanitize it for public consumption. At best, they might be able to release the signing keys so we’d be able to install third-party software in the unlikely event it were ever to exist.
Of course, I could be completely wrong about this and they could have a fully ready to release version standing by. More likely, I think, the service would be sold to some other company that would try to keep it running.
I hope this is all completely moot. Glowforge seems to be doing very well and I wish them continued growth!
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Thanks Chris,
I don’t wish ill upon the company but given the lack of email response to my shipping issues and no direct connection with customer service it makes me curious about the company. Having been in middle management in a distribution network before, these make me very concerned and I have to question this.
Should something happen to us, the firmware on each Glowforge unit is unlocked so it can be changed. We’ve also made our firmware open source to make it easier for other developers to take over if something happens to us. You can read a bit more about this here. https://glowforge.com/latest-improvements/publishing-our-firmware. I hope that helps!