Yeah there are other ways and better libraries out there with subscription models.
Well, that’s the one they made the deal with. The others might have not been amenable to this kind of arrangement? Who knows. 
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I’m a little concerned about using the free designs that come with the Premium subscription with supplies other than Proofgrade. I’m guessing that we will not be able to resize any slots for slightly different thickness materials?
Since proofgrade is out of stock so often, I’m betting this could be a common issue with parts not fitting together well.
I’ve upgraded for now, but without some additional features added soon, (ie: Snapmarks, alignment tools, etc) I’m not sure how long I’ll stay as a subscriber.
No way I’d be a subscriber at the full price or anything close to that full price though.
I’m pretty sure that’s the case. 
As long as the non-proofgrade you’re using is the same thickness then there’s no reason to resize slots, I mean that would be true if you had PG but it was on the thicker side or the thinner side of “optimal”
PG materials are pretty much “standard” sizes, 1/8" nominal for “medium,” and 1/4" for thick wood and acrylic.
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Using the scaling tool in premium, you can resize the entire file fractionally to fit actual dimensions. If the slot in the file is 0.125" and your materials are 0.118", scaling to 94.4% should get you there. Not going to work for some patterns, though.
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When I read the announcement the other day I was disappointed and a bit snarky in my post. Now that I’ve had a few days to think about it, I’ve decided I’m lazy and can afford it so I’m paying the $15 for now. But, I’ve also considered why I felt how I felt when I read the announcement, and it’s because the pricing is truly outrageous for the feature set. How many of us have a circle, line and square svg uploaded to our account already. So now I’m paying $15 to add text. I told you I’m lazy. $15 is too much for the current features, let alone $50. Underlying all of this is anxiety about a company that controls our access to hardware that we own. Feeling that they are flippant and irresponsible about their pricing brings that tenuous relationship issue to light again. I’ve read all of the back and forth about the costs of running the computing or some feature may be complicated to code, and it’s just not compelling. Glowforge has to offer a compelling product at a competitive price to survive. Every glowforge owner is counting on them to survive. We have all bet on glowforges future and given a vote of confidence through the initial purchase. Because we are tied to their success through the offline processing/control it doesn’t really matter if you bought it during a pre sale or purchased later, we’ve all made a similar bet. So Dan, respectfully, maybe consider adding lines and shapes to the basic platform and add snap marks/jigs/production important functionality to the $50. I personally have no issue with the fast lane concept.
Nothing, but we’re planning in the future to release them as a Premium feature. When that happens, anyone can get them with Premium, but Premium will be required to access them.
We have chosen to be much, much more conservative about safety than most. We haven’t found any other companies’ practices that we can emulate and feel good about.
There is!
The entire design can be resized, so with a little math you can make it work. If it has a 0.1" slot in the design, and your boards are 0.125", then you can use Glowforge Print to scale everything 125% and it will fit. (Ironically I’m helping my kids with ratios right now so this is now going to be a topic of conversation at dinner!)
I appreciate the feedback!
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Honestly, Dan, I’m frustrated. I waited years for this machine - much, much longer than my Pro trial has lasted - and now I have a few weeks for this decision? And if my finances or personal life doesn’t allow for it, I’m punished to the tune of 4x the cost later. Basic shapes and text are features that everyone should have access to - I believe for free, but at the very least for a reasonable price. There are plenty of features contributing to that $50 pricetag that the average joe like me doesn’t need. There needs to be a more budget-friendly option.
Edited, because I just realized: My employer had been asking about my Glowforge and considering purchasing a unit or a number of units for our warehouse and design department. An additional $50 on top of the initial investment is almost certain to nix that. They want to use it for prototyping and customizing, so things like ‘millions of graphics’ and ‘unlimited designs’ aren’t compelling at all.
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In that case just don’t subscribe to Premium. The Glowforge will continue to work as it always has without the subscription. The subscription is only necessary if you’re interested in those features.
As for basic shapes, I just keep an SVG file handy with a square, circle, line, and a few other things. I drop it in whenever I need it.
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Perfect, thanks!!
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Snark on… Here’s how that sounds to me:
“That’s a nice set of snapmarks you have there… wouldn’t it be a shame if you’d have to pay $50 a month to keep them? Why don’t you go ahead and pay us $15 a month so you can keep them? Oh, you’re 1600km from your machine for the next two years? Well, that’s not our problem, is it?”
Snark off.
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And now for fact time… this is how Snapmarks was announced two years ago:
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…I was expecting that post. Read my post again - I’m not complaining about having to pay for them. I am, however, complaining about having to pay $50 a month for them. (And next, I expect “No, you only have to pay 15 etc.” – before you write that post, read mine again).
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I have no objection to criticizing the price. But you did suggest it sounded like extortion, and I think that’s an unfair characterization when Dan was honest from the very beginning that this was a purely experimental feature that might end up costing extra.
I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic to your situation. I do in fact agree that it truly stinks that your only choices are to pay for something you can’t use or forfeit the discount.
I have not been defending the subscription pricing, I have been pushing back when people say Glowforge is doing things they’re not doing, like deliberately breaking the service or taking away features. I don’t consider it taking away when they say “here’s a free trial” and the trial ends, or “here’s an experimental feature we might discontinue or charge extra for” and then do exactly that.
By all means, everyone’s entitled to their opinion about the pricing and business model, what kinds of features should be standard, and especially whether the value proposition works for them. I have my thoughts on those topics and they’re probably a lot closer to the naysayers than the cheerleaders. I’m just staying out of that conversation because I have nothing new to say and I kind of don’t care. The outcome will be the outcome. I can afford the subscription, and I can also live without it like I did for most of the time I’ve had my Glowforge. I think the only Premium feature I’ve ever used was to draw a line to cut the end off a long piece of acrylic, and I used to do that with a file with a line in it. So I’ve been trying to sit this out, but I just can’t keep away from an Internet argument.
But as long as I’m here, I will say I agree with the suggestion to change the discount for current owners to a lifetime deal — in other words, get rid of the requirement to subscribe in the next 30 days, and let people re-subscribe at a discount price even if they’ve lapsed. The current system has some sharp corners that I don’t think play out very well.
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@Chris1, thanks. I don’t want to argue with you - mainly writing this post in the role of Advocatus Diaboli. I’d say “If you don’t give us your money now, you lose the feature. If you want it back later, it’ll cost you a lot more” does sound a bit like extortion, doesn’t it?
(Obligatory smiley to show I’m not 100% serious… but not 0% either: 
)
added later - oh, and I fully agree with your last paragraph… and while I’m here: If they were to name a reasonable one-off price for “snapmarks for as long as you have the machine”, I’d be the first to yell “Shut up and take my money!”…
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Wait.
It’s pre-coffee but does this mean that if I have Snapmarks now, I’ll have to get premium to use them in the future or does this only mean for those who do not yet have them?
I work away from home for extended periods (although measured in months, not years), so I understand your frustration, but honestly, we represent an extremely small fraction of Glowforge customers, and face this same sort of issue in all sorts of other areas besides just the Premium subscription.
Having an atypical lifestyle brings atypical problems, but I can’t expect other people to have to compensate for how I’ve chosen to operate. 
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I think that’s how it will be. As @chris1 noted above, they’ve said from the start that Snapmarks would likely eventually become a premium feature.
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