I hope that I’m not telling you how you ( or @dpruitt) are feeling, but I’ll reiterate an old expression that explains a bit how I felt watching all of the machines going out and the cool things being made by those who have their machines already, after such a long wait:
The darkest hour is just before the dawn.
A lot of things are like that… it’s always toughest just before fruition. Know that the Glowforge isn’t vaporware. It’s a real product. It’s in quite a few homes already. Forever units.
As long as the machine is set up for success via the hardware front, the software (what isn’t there), will come. Patience is going to be needed now and then after you receive it. I’m sure it will have some quirks - all software driven stuff does.
Want some fun reading?
Go back over this Version history of Android:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history#Android_1.0_.28API_1.29
Or iOS:
The biggest limitations to making on this thing will be the individual… just like anything else. You’ll get out what you put in.