How does the distinction between public beta and private beta come in to play? Maybe when the public betas get into the wild he’ll get one. And I would say that we can give him a break. He’s just venting personal frustration. That’s the purpose of these podcasts, to make it personal. Yes, objectivity and professionalism is a great value but so is resonance and empathy.
I guess we are really stretching to find new information. Starting to interpret body language and voice inflections? Could think of half a dozen reasons for the exact same reactions.
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Exactly. Like the stresses of (assumedly) getting married, having sold each other on a specific look of wedding invitations, and realizing that some deadlines are approaching and everyone is stressing out.
It’s funny that he’s no opting to go the Chinese laser route… That’s says somethin
I sometimes take a day off reading. 
I told Norm they are welcome to play with the latest hardware (or print invitations) any time they want, but I wasn’t putting a machine in their hands until it had all the bugs worked out - and then he’d get one first.
I also told him I would print his invitations for him ANY time, because when someone sends you a gajillion visitors, that’s the least you can do!
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GREAT to hear this @dan !!! Thanks for the clarification. Puts me at ease. 
I, for one, love the way you guys (GF) operate.
I dunno, I heard about the Glowforge on day one through Tested. I almost became a backer that same day (I now wish I had). It wasn’t until… oh… a couple weeks later or so that I heard about Glowforge through any other channels. I should probably double-check, but I don’t even think Dan emailed us Robot Turtles backers until a couple weeks into the Glowforge campaign.
I’m under the impression that Glowforge would certainly have been successful without Tested, but I wonder if they would have picked up steam so quickly. It seems like that early boost, plus the fact that Tested is heavily geared to the “maker” crowd, the fact that Tested has featured laser cutters in the past, and the fact that Norm has a perfect use-case for the Glowforge lined up already, seems like a confluence of factors that would have led to Norm receiving a beta unit. If I knew beta units were being shipped out, and I knew Tested was left off the list, I would almost consider that to be a warning sign.
Not me. Tested only evaluates production units. Sometimes early production but still reasonably complete products. The early Beta units will not be that. It makes no sense to evaluate and publish results of a pre-production unit. The published information will not be valid for very long.
They show and discuss plenty of non-production gadgets on Tested.
I wouldn’t expect them to evaluate a beta unit, but I would like to get a look at the current state of development.
It’s been at least four months since we “backed” the Glowforge. It’s suppose to ship in about four months. I’m curious to see how it’s progressed.
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I think people need to get passed the “we backed” idea when it come to glowforge. They have said multiple times that the money needed for design and production was secured before the crowdfunding campaign. That was more of a proof of concept then financial backing. Nearly every post that has to do with shipping or beta units has people complaining of lack of information “but we are funding them”. When you preorder a video game and receive preorder bonus it doesn’t mean you funded the production of the game, it means you preordered something you wanted and received a “gift” for showing support. In this case your gift was money. Pretty good trade off as far as I’m concerned.
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Sorry if I wasn’t clear: norm agreed that he wanted a production unit, not a beta one. He also has a standing invitation to drop by and shoot any time he is in Seattle.
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Norm from Tested here. Dan let me know about this thread and I wanted to chime in. What he clarified above is 100% true and correct–I reached out to him just before the Beta program was announced to check in on the state of Glowforge, and Dan said he would rather get me a production unit. I completely agreed with him–we want to test and review a unit that’s going to be representative of what everyone else who pre-ordered is going to get. The beta experience is of course interesting, but I think we’re all better served by those units getting to the hands of workshops and maker spaces, not reviewers. Timing-wise, it likely won’t fit my original wedding invitation plans, but Dan has generously offered to help cut them for me with units they have in-house. I’ve declined the offer, and my fiancee and I are working on other invitation plans. But I’ll definitely be stopping by to check in and get an update on the Glowforge the next time we’re in Seattle.
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I just love this place. 
Thank you Norm and @dan for the clarification. It was great to hear right from the source! I am excited to see Tested get their hands on a Glowforge when the time comes.
See? all good here.
And ahem…I won’t even ask for any of the credit due to me for suggesting that Dan be contacted to clear this up…
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But the Drama… It’s SO worth it…
I just love the drama of a good forum…
Will Dan reply…
Will Norman like his reply…
Will Normans fiancee call the wedding off because of Dan…
Maybe the Mythbuster team will show up and blow up the Glowforge HQ…
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“If woody had just gone to the Police, none of this would have happened.”
I’m dating myself with that line…
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Thank you @norman for the clarification. Good to hear things are good between you guys. I look forward to updated videos along the way!
Hardly a bitter rant!
There are some videos you watch on the internet over and over, and part 4 of the arcade build series you guys did, specifically where you cut out the tested avatars was one of those for me. I still watch it with anticipation of what I will be able to do when I get my laser. Its what really made me want a laser cutter, and ultimately end up ordering a glowforge (especially after the other videos you guys did on the GF). So… thanks Norm! Hope to run into you at dragoncon again this year (my girlfriend was the female doof warrior)!
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