I have a Creality Space Pi filament dryer. It just may be the best filament dryer on the market.
Prusa is becoming the blackberry of 3D printing, as Gateway was to personal computers, as Sears and Roebuck was to retail shopping. They had their day.
The future of 3D printing is the multifilament ecosystem printers like Bambu and Anycubic. Kind of like how telephones went from flip phones to smartphones.
Not really a good view to have if you actually want Bambu to change… something that hurts their bottom line (potential for lawsuit for $$) is a good reason for them to wake up and pay attention… 
On that note, did anyone else notice this interesting titbit? Curious and curiouser, if it is true… and begs the question of what needed them to use non-free libraries.
The bambu networking plugin is based on non-free libraries. It is optional to the Bambu Studio and provides extended networking functionalities for users. By default, after installing Bambu Studio without the networking plugin, you can initiate printing through the SD card after slicing is completed.
At the end of the day, I struggle to comprehend why Bambu would opt to not create a stable third party API, which would encourage manufacture of accessories for their devices. It’s almost as if they don’t want to encourage more money to be spent on their products. 
And since everything would have to pass through the Bambu API, there would be no “security” or “safety” issues since Bambu firmware is control of everything that happens on the printer side.
perhaps the term walled garden might bring back some reasons as to why Bambu does some things while, in the same time, does not appear that willing to do some others?!?
I know why you say that… but I also know of at least one highly successfully and very well known “walled garden” ecosystem has a “certified for walled garden” ecosystem that seems to be working just fine 
For now… however, for medium to long term, that remains to be seen…[@ some point in time, I may have to say "I’ve told you so " … but until such time, I’ll just seat back and watch how things happen]
Yes indeed. However, I feel the forecast is “Cloudy, with a chance of hail” … Bambu Labs have designed some great hardware, but it seems they don’t excel so much at the infrastructure and software side of things, so are locking things in rather than designing it … properly … 
But then they surprise with the CyberBricks concept… 
Yeah, but they make most of the time a good job so that the benefits of the walled garden outstand the fact, that you have to pay with a kidney to be part of the walled garden gang
In the meantime, Apple is getting sued all over the world for shutting down all possibilities to the free market to make their cut. And thats good.
So yeah, this principle could work. But BL is one of many good printers out there - and that “security” approach was a bad joke. Apples security stuff is really good for example 
And the printer community is based on open source and - the community behind it. So all the tinkerers hate such shady moves, because its against the whole nature of the topic.
The X1C is a decent printer. But it became ultra awesome with all the work from those tinkerers. All the hardware mods, HA integration, … it just flies. There is no need for a cloud to send a print job or take a look at the camera stream - especially when that cloud is partially not available.
But… are they forking and using AGPL code like mad, or writing their own (at least nowadays)?
If BL wants to be crApple, maybe they should do it completely. Write your own slicer software, bros. 
From what I read, Apple tries to avoid anything GPL/AGPL. Google has a hard stop going anywhere near AGPL. BL’s primary desktop software is completely locked into AGPL. Hmm.
Cool story bro… but how does that help the discussion? Are you trying to give Bambu bad ideas?
There is a reason for this And it is not a bad reason either… and Bambu is slowly digging it’s own grave in continuing to ignore that.
On the contrary, bro! (That bro “word” always makes me laugh.)
I’d rather they didn’t ignore the open source roots of the industry. My point was that they are not Apple, and they can’t be without a major investment in proprietary software development. Which I keeping hearing people say they are not experts at. So I’d ask them, do you really want to be like Apple? Right now they seem to want things both ways, and it could be risky for them.
Even Google and Apple are too shy to use AGPL stuff. If BL really wants to be an “Apple” with a walled garden (which obviously I do not endorse), I think they’ll need to abandon anything with a strong copyleft license. I’d rather they not do that. It would be a major loss on all fronts for everyone. But this is what emulating Apple means.
Cooperating with the community in the spirit of the AGPL license is still an option. They should abandon this notion of emulating a popular marketing company with a ‘walled garden’ and find their own path. If they’re not going to do that, they should go away and build a “garden” on their own, without using source code written by people who had no intention of helping them build a digitally jailed ecosystem.
It is not that they are too shy, but that they are not completely insane. No company in their right mind would use anything AGPL license, due to the effect it has on any code they write themselves. There is a reason it is not generally accepted in the corporate world.
Neither Apple nor Google are getting away from open source roots anytime soon either… both have published significant bits of their operating systems and tools online whilst retaining other parts.
What Bambu really needs to do is as you say, work with the community in the spirit and letter of the AGPL, because let’s face reality, they aren’t going to write a slicer themselves from the ground up. They can still have their walled garden, this does not prevent that. Having a robust API for third party addons does not prevent that. Nor does it present a security or safety risk. They just need to have the vision and resources to make it happen. And then they truly would be the DJI of 3D printing
Are you saying BL is out of their right mind? Prusa and I assume others are in the same boat using this AGPL slicer software. I think that is perfectly fine for a company to rely on–it was written to have some compatibility with proprietary things–but only for a certain type of company. If your goal is vendor lock-in and things like “limiting the user’s freedom, for their own good”, I feel those things are slightly incompatible.
A&G have published some source, but the rules of the game give them “copyright” for that stuff so there isn’t any legal risk or limitations.
Maybe we have different definitions of what a ‘walled garden’ is. I’m not convinced they can have a “walled garden” in the same sense as Apple without stronger control over their software. Apple’s business model is nasty because it includes vendor-lock-in dark patterns. That’s one unspoken part when I hear a company wants to emulate Apple. They only want you to think of the marketing and convenience aspects.
I believe they could do a ‘garden’ in the hardware/firmware sense, and include that open external API we want. But they need to deal with the fact that they’re heavily reliant on this AGPL slicer, and not try to lock things down with unnecessary bonkers schemes like “Bambu Connect” or special proprietary “plug-ins” of questionable value.
Right now it feels like they are trying to get around AGPL with loopholes and legal trickery, with unknown goals in mind. Even if we assume it makes them totally safe legally because their libs aren’t packaged with the software, and having them download magically makes it okay (technically it’s completely unnecessary), it looks like they’re playing games. This balancing act is creating tension and apprehension.
Is BL a hardware company, or a hardware/software company?
The jury is still debating on that part, thou’ tbh, at this point in time I’d be inclined to say that it’s the former rather than the latter … but time will tell (that is, if Bambu survives that long).
As much as I don’t always like what you’re saying (from an emotional PoV), I must compliment you on always responding to the arguments and not going ad hominem.
It seems to me they’d be better off sticking to the former too, apparently it’s what they’re good at.
Yeah but unless its a super massive company who holds that AGPL license they aren’t going to bother, attempting to enforce it is going to prove costly especially if there is any chance you could lose
Because there is no money to be made by them in the future, for example if they decided they wanted to make a first party screen replacement for the P1 they would then have to bother trying to fight other companies making addons for their own products
And most of these companies aren’t going to want to pay for licensing to make things when bambu can drop in and undercut them with a better product because they don;t have to pay to license their own API
They want money spent on their products, not on someone elses products that interface with their own
If you mean apple then no, if that were working as well as you had hoped they wouldn’t be regularly getting ordered by courts to add things like type-c charging ports lol
I’m sure he was great in debate class. Keep in mind that being good at arguing doesn’t necessarily mean someone actually has a point, they’re just good at convincing people who don’t understand the issue and wasting everyone else’s time.
Yes, and here’s the problem with it; if you’re going to shut out the rest of the world, that means you need to do it all yourself!
Apple found that out with Google/Apple Maps, and now they’re getting a lesson again with “AI”. You’re effectively competing with the rest of the world who does allow integrations. It forces you to re-invent things that really weren’t necessary to re-invent, and you need to do it as well or better than everyone else. Not easy!
The Apple tactic I can’t tolerate is vendor lock-in. Making it harder for customers to leave isn’t competing by making a better product, it’s building artificial barriers. I find it reprehensible scumbag behavior and do whatever I can to stay away from those people.
BL could try going that route if they want. I don’t think it’d end well. I will say I am speculating a little, and maybe they don’t mean to emulate that aspect of Apple’s business model. But then they should at least provide some nice bi-directional doors to their “garden”.