Brilliant Bambu Lab

I wonder if the legal action against Bambu over patent infringements had anything to do with this.

I had wondered that myself. They sure are following Stratasys's business model. 

Yes, I also canceled my X1C order from the beginning of this year. This topic really affected me.
Now I don’t know what to order, and it seems there are no big discounts either.

I currently wont recommend one either. That said I am printing parts for a Voron 2.4 as
I am typing this reply. The worst thing for companies that try to follow the whole "You will
own nothing and be happy" is the people who will show them otherwise.

cornholio-
as I watched that video I was questioning how long Louis could go before taking a breath.

Before that video I had figured this situation would make Bambu lab back off, after that video I
wont buy or recommend a Bambu Lab machine ever again.
They sealed there fate.
 

I was watching with my son last night and he was thinking the same thing lol.

++Disclosure, my X1C was given to me from Bambu due to my YT channel, and I like it so much I asked to join their affiliate program.
Bambu has not contacted me on this issue, this is solely my opinion++

Having owned a home built 3D printer for 10 years, which needed constant troubleshooting and tuning, and never came close to the quality of the X1C, which just works, I dont really get the upset. Maybe I understood it wrong, but didn't pick up Bambu proposing a subscription model, or any of the other scary scenarios floating around. Maybe they are creating potential back doors for them, but the upset for what might happen (but hasn't, and probably wont due commercial suicide) seems excessive. No one expects a consumer electronics product to last for ever these days. If Bambu goes crazy and really screw around their customer base with a sub model, locking out existing features, etc, those users would just switch to whatever the latest/greatest printer from the competition is. Adobe and autodesk used dominant market positions to force subscription models. I use Gimp and Freecad. Printers are too commodity for Bambu to successfully wield such market power as Adobe. They would just loose their market if they tried.

As a user rather than 3D printer tinkerer, closing the software eco system seems pretty irrelevant to me. I was never going to switch from the Bambu slicer to another one, as their integrated one works fine. I'd used Slicer and Cura on the old printer in the past, and didn't really care which slicer I used, if the result was okay. If I compare X1C to the Canon, HP etc document scanner/printers in the office at work, those also have completely closed software eco systems (and share diagnostics with the mothership*) as have all printers for decades, and no one seems to care much. No one (well no rational user, I used to run 3rd party software driver for an early epson photo 870   would even consider loading there own print drivers for the document printer.

Bambu has stated they will not close the use of 3rd party filament. If they reversed on that, I would understand people getting upset, but the core software being closed off? If people have a religious need to open source, and tinkering, they were never going to buy a Bambu, they will build a Veron. Most users dont give a rip about the firmware and software, as long as it works.

I know the 3D printing community has a strong open source culture, and a lot of the tech dev was done by the community. That is the only point where I sort of understand the upset, that years of tech dev from the hobbiest have been hovered up and commercialised. However it doesn't seem to me that Bambu need be singled out for special attention there either. They didn't cause that, as there are hundreds of 3D printer manufacturers who did exactly that. At least Bambu did it well.

Isn't this also what Tormach did with LinuxCNC --> Pathpilot? I never saw equivelent upset about that here.

*with corporate document printers, I am sure you can deactivate such data transfer, and my understanding is you can deactivate it on the Bambu printers as well.
Mark

Here's my take on the situation...

I refused to get a Bambu until I could confirm the following:

• It will operate without internet.  I refuse to own anything that doesn't function unless connected to the internet.
  • I was less concerned about losing some features which require internet (Handy app, etc.), but basic printing must work
• It will operate with Orca (or other slider)
  • Stop-start prints from local network PC
  • Adjust some settings (AMS, etc.)

Once I figured out Bambu's LAN mode and Orca's plug-in worked as I required, I got an X1.  I can use it, and my warranty - for what it's worth - was still valid. 

The new lockdown-firmware doesn't affect my existing printer.  It works just like it did, and I will never update the firmware - nor will it 'auto-update' as it's in LAN mode.  I don't get any updates or new features, but I don't care about those - so far, so good.

However, I am now reluctant to purchase another printer from Bambu.  To achieve what I want - that is, duplication of my existing printer - I would need to use 'Developer' mode.  I will not be able to downgrade my firmware to a pre-lockdown version to duplicate my existing printer's behavior.  I would have to use Developer mode and hope that Bambu's hasn't incorporated some sort of 'not-LAN-mode' backdoor in to the firmware.

And, as I understand it, Developer mode affects the warranty, or at least some support from Bambu.  Deal breaker for me?  Maybe not, as long as Orca still works and the thing generally behaves like my first one does.

My speculation about the uproar is that those users who wish to use the features provided by being in internet-connected mode are no longer able to do things the way they used to.  Bambu's update will break their workflow and arguably degrade the user experience.

I can understand irritation with this situation; feels like a bait-and-switch.  Like if your phone manufacturer pushed an update that required you to use some annoying process to use your phone without having an option to decline the update.  "We know you had when you bought the phone, but Wifi tethering is no longer available, sorry.  We did it for the children."

If you buy a new printer (with lock-down firmware) from Bambu you know what you're getting in to.  But I think the valid complaints are from existing owners who don't want the printers' behavior changed after they purchased them.

Ok, I do have a Fusion 360 subscription that requires internet...

But I knew about that ahead of time as well as forced updates.  Eyes wide open on that one.