Glowforge shipping date, beta releases, and bonus materials

Im only talking about the glowforge designs. They have their people on salary and the designs are more than likely going to be owned by the company. For all of the rest of the designs by community members I think the designers should get full credit/compensation.

6 Likes

Gotchya, and fully on board in that form.

2 Likes

While this is absolutely true, I think @madebynick for an example has created some gorgeous designs. They are worth spending a bit.

Suppose I submit a desk lamp design (pretend for a minute that I could do a quality one) and my design is $5, then you have Nick’s super awesome amazing lamp that’s prettier and better than mine in every way, but Nick’s is free because he’s a Glowforge staffer. Which do you choose? Nick’s, obviously. Nick’s design makes $0. My design makes $0.

Neither of us is motivated to do something beautiful next time.

If, however, Nick’s lamp design is $12, and my lamp design is $5, then you can decide whether you want to go cheap and get mine, or whether you want to splurge on Nick’s beautiful work. Or, you might decide to save your cash and do some trial and error with cardboard to develop your own lamp.

With this scenario, all three of us are motivated to do great things.

I have no problem with Glowforge doing some simple free designs - and I sincerely hope that they do just that. Not everything, though.

I personally think that the most people would be best served if they put market-competitive prices on their designs.

And I’m super cheap. As a rule, I don’t buy apps - I mostly use free ones.
I buy my clothes from the thrift store, my furniture is second hand and hand-me-downs, and my cars are a decade old before they reach my price range.

I don’t think I’ll actually make money on designs, because I’m not actually a great designer.

But I see the things so many people are capable of, and I think that I will get access to their brilliance when they have motivation to develop good designs.

I do see your reasoning. I just see this perspective from my shoes.

This perspective may cost me more in the long run; but I think it will make a better design catalog.

Also, there are lots of places to get free designs. Some are listed on this forum. Glowforge can do flash sales, and they can do “gifts” from time to time with greater enthusiasm from us. If their designs are already free, they have no place to apply discounts. They can’t do sales.

I see already a half-price cutting edge laser coming to me. That seems like the company is already giving me a decent deal. They don’t owe me more than that.

16 Likes

Did you see the post where I said “if you buy materials from GF to make the item with”? That was the condition I put on the discount.

On the decision to buy discussion it seems youre basing the argument on a few assumptions about whos item will be better and more expensive etc. It could be the case that someone decides to release a lamp cheaper than Nick that is much more your style, or technically better in every way.

I also dont think making a purchasing choice would be as simple as a price difference. Everyone has different taste and I doubt that Nick is going to cover the spectrum of designs out there. I will happily pay more for something I like over paying for something just because its in the same classification of item that Nicks is.

Not to mention this also leaves open the possibility that if glowforge does set up project kits/material+design discounts or something of the like, they could give the option to the owner of the design to do the same for some sort of kickback in return.

They want to sell materials, I think they could make it work so that everyone is happy, and can get a discount when buying both. I also think that there are people out there who can make some seriously awesome designs that dont work for glowforge and could rake in some serious cash just by making designs. If they were able to get kickbacks from glowforge for material referrals as well that would be pretty awesome. Giving them the option to discount bundle those thing at their discretion could lead to even higher purchase rates.

4 Likes

I agree 100%

2 Likes

I see what you are getting at.

So lets run another scenario. Two lamp designs are available. a GF design and a crowd design. I actually like the crowd design better and i plan on buying GF material either way because i like the consistency and ease of use. If I now get a GF design for free because I purchased materials, this hurts the competitiveness of crowd designs by making me more likely to purchase the GF design.

I think perhaps the solution to this problem, would be for GF to offer Catalog credits along with the purchase of GF material. This eliminates any preference within the catalog.

I personally am against this, because the cost of those designs are accounted for somewhere (probably in more expensive material). But it does solve the problem of catalog bias.

6 Likes

I don’t like this as many ppl may want to get the GF designs but source there own material … so they would not earn credits

1 Like

I assumed nick meant that you can still buy designs with cash. So the credits with material purchases would just be a discount essentially. Probably with a handy “You could use your credits to get this design, which uses the materials you just purchased!” link.

3 Likes

I missed that. My apologies.

I was giving a simple what if - not specific. I agree that it’s a lot more complex than just the price.

I have seen suggestions that all Glowforge designs should be free. My position is that would not be the best arrangement for the most people. I apologize for misinterpreting your point.

1 Like

Well poo, but kinda not poo. The room I was planning on setting this up in has a grandson in it. The other possible room has a daughter and her husband. This will be a while because they have to straighten out their credit to get a house. So I am taking the time to learn CAD so I can get the most out of my GF. So I guess I will call this divine intervention.

You know what would really be nice? It would be nice if the makers would post videos of this device actually at work. You know like tutorials so that when we can get it we can run with it. Since we have a year, why not? I would rather have free training than a bunch of freebies. You could create tutorials that are available to people who purchase this technology, provide a password, and post it in a learning link within your site. This also does one more thing too. It allows creatives to collaborate and expand the possibilities of this technology. Something to think about Dan.

@jacobturner hit it on the nose. It would basically act as a rebate. Definitely not the only way to get gf designs.

Unfortunately video production is extremely time consuming, so it’s something we try not to do very much of. Our focus is squarely on delivering a great product for you!

1 Like

I mentioned something to that effect in my follow up post

I just watched that recently, it was pretty good…and made me less scared to try making my own bread (though I haven’t yet…still am living in my in-laws’ house).

2 Likes

I hear you there

As I was reading this the radio was playing Jefferson Airplane “White Rabbit” lol felt like a deja vu moment

1 Like

I will wait. ONLY because the system is being assembled in THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

GREAT DECISION.

7 Likes

It lends credibility to the product beyond the short narrative featured to crowd source money. It is part of building a brand. You will need to build the brand if this product is to go beyond being developed for those who bought in when it was crowd sourced.

This is something to think seriously about. When people purchase the product the hope should be to provide supplies, service, and a product lined geared toward the technology. That would include materials, items that need replaced with the GF, services associated with the GF, and it should include training. Training is important to utilize the device to maximum potential, and see the device being integrated as standard within the fields of graphic design, architecture, schools, culinary arts, and clothing design. This technology has the potential to be so much more than it is marketed for, and is stunted by a lack of enthusiasm in developing media to train buyers and the public. Right now I am not able to grasp how putting a web cam up in your developers area and utilizing a graphic designer to produce video and upload to YouTube is so time consuming. People do it all the time to illustrate other devices, techniques, teach lessons, and make a statement. You have children as young as 13 doing it.

I can understand a devotion to producing a product free of major operational issues. But from a marketing and branding standpoint I also understand the importance of producing collateral that supports the product. Making a product is good, but making a product and supporting it through training only makes for a solid place in the market. It also supports those people who thought enough of the concept to invest at the crowd sourcing level. It gives them a solid background in getting the most out of this device. It also serves as a powerful tool in selling future stock and models. This is like throwing a person who has never swam into the ocean and saying swim to the boat and leaving them. It doesn’t make since does it? It is like Microsoft or Apple developing a computer software upgrade, and not telling people how to operate it on their current system. It is not a very positive marketing decision.

2 Likes

Marketing as a value and its function in developing the Glowforge culture. It doesn’t seem to be a huge priority for Glowforge. Other values have come to the fore. For example, that it was just Bailey and Dan doing the Q&A after DDay. I have thought about this and taken it to mean that Dan is going to be the face and voice of Glowforge and whatever is needed, he will handle. That there are no other Glowforge voices out there or public publicity person has been a consistent stance is remarkable. The issue of how to videos is a great point. At the moment, we don’t know what is going to be available to assist us in what medium. Doesn’t seem to be a high priority right now. Again, I look forward to the day when we might get a glimpse behind the scenes. Why choices were made for what reasons.

1 Like

Glowforge et al,

It’s been 8 days. Where is the refund?
Regards
Ted