Last I saw mention of software, they haven’t even started on the portion of the code needed to resume cuts after moving material with the pass through. Dan has also often stated they are doing the software for basic first. Since there are a few features not yet finished, like the greyscale and defocusing, I would say it is a safe bet the pass through capacity is sufficiently back-burner.
So, while they might still make a few pro and send those out, the primary basic/pro difference will not be available.
Thanks! Hopefully I get one of the beta units and can help make sure everything is working, I have a ton of ideas (And an ever growing list of stuff I want to produce, including some stuff for the market place.
To clarify, the Pro software has some features that aren’t in the Basic. But everything in Basic is in Pro, too, so “working on basic” is effectively working on both.
Working on a very big update now re: beta program.
Since the first shipment is already at hand, are we able to access the glowforge website where we can share our designs so that people who are receiving the first shipment can use? I believe it’ll be a great idea to assist people to try making specific things that could help test out the laser cutting/engraving process. We can also start beefing up the community with goodies to laser cut/engrave when the following shipments arrive for the other backers. This way there is a already a nice large variety of materials and designs when someone gets their most awaited glowforge.
what is this…search… button… of which you speak? I actually am excited about the glowforge. I first learned about it only the other day (so disappointed that I missed the 50-percent-off deadline in December, but I didn’t know it existed so it’s not really a loss). My fiance and I discussed it and have pre-ordered the pro. YAY! now I can focus on not eating for the next few months as I eagerly await it’s arrival and pay off my as-of-now almost maxed out creditcard lol. Even with the 1/4 inch passthrough limitations, I expect it’ll be worth very much more than every penny.
Forgive me if I missed the explanation of this… Dan says “…units purchased before October 23 would ship in the first half of 2016.” and then “…Units ordered after Oct 23 will ship in the summer of 2016.”
But what of those of us that ordered ON Oct. 23rd? Is that inclusive of the first 1/2 shipment or the Summer shipment (Which also confuses me, since to me, summer is typically June-August, with June being in the fist half of the year…)
Also, does this mean it will take 7 months (including Dec 2015) to get the first batch out, then only 3 months for the rest?
I believe what the Oct 23rd statement means is those who participated in the first month of crowd funding and got the 50% off. Once the first batch is out, the production line should be fully up and running. Turn around time will decrease because of that. But I believe summer of 2016 will be the start of the second round of shipments. I’m not sure what the sales are currently like after the first month, but I doubt you will get a GF by August 2016 if you order in the end of May 2016. But I may be wrong.
I would take all of these forward looking statements as guesses and estimates. I suspect they looked at the number of orders and the expected build capacity at the assembly plant, the anticipated availability of parts, etc. and placed a line on where things would be.
Many things could change all this. Assembly could be speedier than testing and all the units could be done in the first quarter if parts are available or there could be a customs or dock workers strike and everything is idle just waiting, and we all see nothing until 2017.
@dan has made a good faith estimate I’m pretty sure because he seems to be that kind that he put a lot of thought and reasonable assumptions into it and that makes it very likely that if you ordered on the 23rd given the availability of basic or pro as you ordered you should get yours shipped to you between people who ordered before the 23rd and people who ordered after.
I’ll confess I was one of the folks who misunderstood that all orders before Oct 23 would be shipping in December. It’s kind of disappointing, and will likely affect the timing on a large project of mine. Given how well the prototypes seem to perform I’m hoping the beta program goes well and “first half of 2016” skews toward the earlier side.
dam and here i though i was going to get off cheap on x maz presence this year. i honestly did also misunderstood that ill have my printer by December. it dose suck but i completely agree with GF staff. i rather have a system that is properly made with pride and time rather then something that was slap together in order to keep up with demands. im going to bite the bullets and not count the days till x maz and just wait until my printer gets here.
This all has large error bars, since there are big unknowns around the date the factory starts running, how quickly they can spin up, their maximum throughput, and more. We’ve made reasonable estimates with buffers to allow for problems, but whether an order placed at Oct 23rd at midnight ships in June or July - it would be misleading for me to tell you I have any clue.
And yes, most of the time (and uncertainty) is getting to the point where we tell the factory to go full-speed. Once that happens, everything moves fairly quickly.
No, these will still have many rough edges, some unfinished functionality, early software builds, and so on. As the beta program continues we’ll ship better and better units until we feel like we’ve got it nailed.
@jacobturner I’m truly amazed that since this Announcement the community board has seen almost zero negative responses. On any topic. Sure, some folks are disappointed to find out that December was never for all early shipments, but there seems to be a new standard of understanding and the irrationality has disappeared. Somewhat resets my opinion of how we will interact with each other and the company.
He’s probably talking about the discussion leading up to selecting the Beta testers, evaluation criteria, discussing which capabilities are ready for test, whether the Beta units have a path to full production capabilities, warranty applicability, and many, many other landmines. For example the use of NDAs may be necessary in Beta testing but some will argue that the lack of public testing might mean the company is trying to hide problems. To you and me that may be a totally ridiculous argument, but we’ve all seen worse. (Though I’m not sure how NDAs will work with a Maker Space.)
Thanks for the clarification.