I really like that point. As much as the awesome Laser Thursdays keep interest high, a few bones to the tech minded go a long way. By the way, do you watch AvE’s YouTube videos? I have never been more intrigued by process rather than product as he does the BOLTR tear downs are entertaining and informative. I think his channel might represent your point very well.
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I hadn’t seen any of those videos before. First thing I that catches my eye on the AvE channel is drilling a square hole. I have one broach I bought a couple years back for a specific application and it worked great. Very expensive though. I’m definitely going to be following the AvE channel going forward. Thanks Marion. Possibly a tad rough on sensitive ears.
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I agree with with @jdodds said. Throw us nerdy types a bone or two and we’ll keep the faith and keep PROMOTING the faith 
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My apologies, I certainly didn’t mean to insult you in any way… simply to inform.
I’m familiar with this kind of thing as I do product management for a very large company and as such have lots of people (sales guys and customers) who want to be provided with every bit of information about what’s coming and when, and there are very good reasons that we don’t provide it (or only provide a specific level of information under NDA with a “forward-looking statements” disclaimer right up front.)
I would be among the most excited to see a weekly “here’s what we did this week and here’s what we’re working on next week and here’s our updated ship date” post, but the reasons I stated above are precisely why we won’t, and I wanted to explain to folks the very rational reasons why not.
Also in addition to what I mentioned, keep in mind that Glowforge has some very large and very nervous competitors who are used to charging 2-3 times more for a similarly-sized laser cutter without all the fancy features enabled by the on-board camera and cloud software. Glowforge must be careful about everything they make public or they risk being beaten to the punch. All they have working for them are secrecy and agility.
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Hi Patrick. No offense, just enthusiasm.
I am only interested in things (features) that have already made public. Every competitor already knows what Glowforge 1.0 is all about as they too have seen the website, promo videos, interviews and no doubt Maker Faires. Any number of those features are not ready for prime time yet. We deduced that based features we have seen in action and upon the survey request discussion. Concerned competition would also be aware. No further disclosures necessary to make anyone concerned aware of that fact.
I want to be impressed by hearing about difficult technical challenges that have been overcome at the hands of the crazy great team that has been assembled. That’s what charges me up. Seeing the beautiful artist potential of the Glowforge and the obviously artistically gifted segment of the user base and Glowforge team isn’t what keeps me enthusiastic. Revelations relating to obstacles and technical challenges that have been overcome does. I want the level of enthusiam to continue for myself and the rest of the tech hungry geek segment of the user base as well as for the artists.
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Kudos to this post, I’m on the same wavelength.
Fought that battle for 6 months then gave up. Glowforge as a company clearly doesn’t see information flow the same way we do. Let’s face it. Much of it is marketing 101 for them. They have done the numbers, understand some of us will walk and have factored that into the margin. I’m not smart enough to tell them they are doing it wrong. They are doing it wrong for you and me but the company is not trying to make individuals happy, they are trying to execute a longterm business plan. Not going to continue to beat my head on the wall about it.
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Laser technology has been around for several decades…what I see is that Glowforge is doing something a bit different. Personally, this probably would not have been my first choice for a laser because of what I need my other lasers for…there are limitations in what it can do…ie bed size and little z height variation.
What caught my attention is the compact size, weight and built in features like internal cooling and filter as well as the camera integration and software possibilities.
IMO it is the first of its kind. So I can honestly see why certain things are being kept underwraps.
If everything that was promised in the promos and literature actually works as described…thats what will make me most happy. 
And if that means longer time in development…I’m ok with that.
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Perfectly put. I’ve also raised the white flag. I surrender. . .
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Done.
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I second this completely. I lead the UX team on a product platform that’s under constant pressure to communicate what’s next so sales has something new to sell and account reps can tell our customers they’re being heard. The problem is it still takes time to BUILD, and during that time we learn new things so things always change. Communicating too much too soon is a recipe for disgruntled customers.
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Nope. I’m with you. I’m struggling not being pissy… It’s so frustrating and they can’t even get us the freaking machine before the end of December so MAYBE we could actually make some money with it for the holidays. Sigh.
I want to cut the glass in half with my Glowforge
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that’s an engineer’s solution
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