There have been quite a few good discussions about the terms of service from the beginning. I remember when the Free Laser Designs category got set up, there was some interesting discussion.
Some folks are not able to buy a Glowforge for use in their business because the cloud software can’t be used in their workplace. That discussion helped me understand the implications of cloud software a bit more.
It’s the deal with the devil. Someone has a technology that you really want but then you have to do it their way. I’m looking at you Apple.
The way ads are littering the YouTube videos now is a pain. But I can pay to make them go away. I wonder if the explosion in vampire related stuff is expressive of the experience of having blood suckers all around you each day. Just how many $5.00 a month services can one afford?
The biggest issue is not the TOS per se, but the technical setup of the unit. GF goed not have stand alone software, which is annoying, frustrating to inhibitive. Web-based software has its (many) upsides, such as always having the latest version (which also means you can’t use previous versions, for whichever reason). However, you need connection with the internet for it to run. In case of GF you actually need a good connection, even if that connection is fairly short compared to an entire ‘run’. For many countries this isn’t exactly an issue, but there are quite some regions where there are blind spots and/or unreliable ISP services. This hinders the reliable operation of the GF.
Some companies do block certain internet traffic, where the GF might become a potential security weakness. Other companies/institutions (like US Army) prohibit the use of off-site processing/storage to protect their highly sensitive IP. This also applies to their sub-contractors.
In a perfect world, GF should offer both online and offline software/options to run your GF.
I guess for +95% of GF users this cloud-only service won’t be a problem. For me it was/is. I don’t really blame GF as I ordered it in a rush ($7K) and didn’t do my research (I only saw the machine running and was impressed). I do think, however, they should make it obvious during the buying or check out process you can only operate the machine via a cloud service.
Fact is I now have an expensive paper weight in my professional workshop.
The only other machines I have running through the cloud are industrial printers from Markforged, but they offer an option for standalone software. Else, CAM runs always locally.
Under the moto “nothing is too big to fail”, there is also a potential risk of GF stopping its business (for whatever reason) by which all GF machines throughout the world would become useless.
No matter how user friendly the GF lasers are, to me they have too many business critical variables beyond the end users’ control.
Apart from that: great hardware!
