I am not trying to fan any flames here, but as I was just finishing up this weeks Tested “This is only a test” I was a bit surprised when I heard Norm mention a little distress over the Glowforge.
Tested can be credited for how I first heard about the Glowforge…
I’m watching it right now. Do you have the time its at? Just a long clip.
The link I provided should drop you right in where they start talking about it, if not, its at about 2:12:30.
Thanks!
To sum up. Norm doesn’t seem impressed with not being accepted into the beta program and not having the GF in time to make invitations (He’s getting married?).
This is a little concerning to me because he is one of the biggest reasons I pre-ordered and his opinion really matters to me. But I still have faith in GF. 
Agreed. Maybe he can bug Adam and use his big laser…
Exactly. Haha, I’m pretty sure he has access to it. 
super awkward reaction to the question of “How soon is that coming” at first they tried to shut it down and change topics but then it started to become a bitter rant on not being selected as a beta tester. Really weird, I find it hard to believe he doesn’t have access to a laser at a FabLab. Something more is going on with their relationship to Glowforge.
I think it may just be bitterness for not being selected for Beta when he (Tested) was a big proponent in getting the word out there about the GF prior to the GF crowdfunding campaign. I get that. But at the same time GF seems to have a good head on its shoulder and I’m sure they had reasons for not choosing Norm. They probably have limited amount of betas and need to get the most out of them.
It sounded to me a little like someone who expected special consideration and was disappointed that he couldn’t get what was wanted and when wanted. Hard to tell, though since the relevant discussion only took 30 seconds or so of a 2 hour show.
Tested seems to put out 5 or more YouTube videos per week, so there must be a lot of pressure to come up with new material. That might not make him/them an ideal candidate for an early beta. Also, maybe they didn’t want to sign the NDA that GF requires, especially if it prohibits public discussion.
To be fair, though, there really wasn’t much on-air discussion about the subject and GF backers should be cautious about reading too much into pieces like this. The lack of solid news on the impending GF release makes us backers a little too willing to make mountains out of molehills.
Very well said.
Yeah, short clip. Very not worth trying to read in to it. My parent instincts kick in, and he sounds like “But I had to sit at the table until I ate all of my carrots!”
Well, one of the greatest things about this forum is that Dan is all over it like butter on toast…have you thought about asking Senior Dan if GF would like to comment on this?
Not to put him on the spot or anything like that; I just mean that it’s not like you can only ask an empty room & that you have no way of contacting him.
He’s like, right here, all the time…it just feels funny; like when people talk about someone, and yet that person is standing right there & can hear them, lol.
I almost expect Dan at times to say “I’m right here; I can hear everything you’re saying…”
I fully expect Dan to say,
It sounds like this is really important to you, so if our current plans don’t meet your needs, mail support@glowforge.com and we’ll regretfully issue a prompt refund.
Dan clearly doesn’t owe him an apology, and it’s a slippery slope if he were to overrule his selection committee for a member of the press.
Yup, I suspect that would be the response too. I do hope that Tested does get their hands on a Glowforge however, as they are a great resource for continuing to get the word out there to that demographic.
The beta program was all about choosing the participants based on what the program needed at the moment, and those needs can change.
The optimist in me wonders if maybe someone like this would be deemed better suited for the final stages of the beta program where the bugs are pretty much squashed and they can beta without being under such a strict NDA?
But saying he’d emailed & was denied beta…maybe he just didn’t follow the rules.
Great resource or not, Tested already got as much benefit as Glowforge did from the two or three videos. They got ad revenue from people looking for details and learning about the Glowforge, and of course, Glowforge got more exposure.
I hope they get theirs early enough to do a proper review of it (from the sounds of it they’re “early in line”), but I purposely waited a few weeks extra so that others could be cannon fodder for initial production woes. But I fully admit I’m more a pessimist than an optimist. 
I think that a beta program benefits the company and the users of its products the most when the hardware and software are put through more of a production environment. Tested is not a production environment as I understand it. So, it makes sense that there is little to no benefit having the Tested team, or likely 1 person, test the beta version on a few ( at most) simple projects only a few times and then make a few comments that could be premature and or irrelevant. Why the Tested guy even acted that way and said those things the way he did says a lot about his expectations (maybe not very realistic or considerate) versus reality. What is important for GF and its future users isn’t necessarily what a Media Head wants, whatever s/he is aspiring too. At least, that part was short. well, that’s my take for now.
Interesting thought, the guy at tested, having expected a beta invitation, would have had to prepurchase one first, which means he also could be here, reading this forum thread…
And yeah, i have to agree that the beta is to help the product, not tested’s viewership ratings. Even with an NDA, i doubt someone with a blogshow like that would keep 100% secrecy.
But dan did say that some beta would be silent and some could be not silent… the latest we’ve heard in the forums that the only non silent beta info is coming directly from the team with thier thursday projects…and that’s been good enough so far. Gf still shows to have almost full customer endorsement, and it’s more than fair to offer full refunds this late in the game.
I would say he is very likely reading this thread. But all assessments still stand: If anything, his role in Tested puts him at the bottom of the list for likely Beta cases.
From the few times I have seen Tested review a machine that I have also used… I do not really value their assessment. Hopefully it was just that those few cases had their team lacking a true expert, but they blamed the equipment for things which were very clearly operator error. But if they are in the habit of releasing lots of videos on short timelines… operator error will be rampant, because they don’t have the luxury of actually getting familiar with the equipment.
For speculating about random tech that isn’t out yet, I still tend to appreciate their analysis. But typically only as a first step to learn general terms and other players in the game, and then I go and do my own homework.
So if it were up to me, they would never get a Beta unit. Or if they did, it would have a custom NDA requiring that they run footage through me before releasing anything to the public.