My goal is not to start a opensource vs not i am an adult and have used and made both open and closed software. But i was just checking a little how slicers evolved. The one that many opensource people point to is Orca Slicer. That seems to be based on BambuStudio which was build on top of PrusaSlicer.
So i followed the official link from the OrcaSlicer website to the Git and what i noticed is more then a few devs clearly related to bambulab (if i assume the names). So how involved is bambulab still in Orca and can someone give me a little idea of the flow between the stack these days.
To answer your question, Orca was forked from Bambu studio with the then endorsement of Bambu labs back at the launch of the X1 in late 2022 early 23. It was up until recently, a âclone with enhancementsâ. Many of those were features added to Orca that were not brought over from Prusa or Cura along with some Bambu specific enhancements that Bambu did not have. The relationship between the two dev groups has chilled since then.
Put simply, Bambu only engages with open source when required to stay legally compliant with the derivative licenses inherited from Prusa and Cura, which themselves trace back to Sli3er. At the same time, they continue to chip away at the principles behind open source by closing off more interfaces to their ecosystem.
The community has been calling this out since January. Bambu uses open source when it benefits them and locks things down when it doesnât. That contrast becomes obvious next to Orca, which is built by hobbyists for hobbyists and doesnât play the selective-access game.
The turning point came in January with the rollout of Bambu Connect, framed as a security measure and quickly debunked. It was viewed for what it was: another step toward a walled garden. For developers the message was simple: follow Bambuâs rules, ask permission, and wait for approval, or youâre shut out. Thatâs the entire âmother-may-Iâ dynamic in one move.
For reference, hereâs the community reaction and SoftFeverâs response to that rollout:
Thats for the info, i wonât take a side on this. But i do still see many commits from clearly bbl accounts in 2025. So wondered how much of this is just stories in the press (so to say) since quick guess 50% still seems from bambu people (again based on names). Ill look into it some more i do understand this is touchie topics for some.
While the first two paragraphs are mostly correct one then wanders far afield.
It is almost comical that one would use as a source to butter oneâs arguments, a thread of âmembers of the communityâ claiming to be so outraged that they were selling their printers. A lot of people who suspiciously appeared to join MakerWorld for no other reason than to feed the narrative and then just as quickly disappear. All the while the analytics were through the roof. It was almost as if the smear campaign had backfired, bringing attention to the Bambu Lab brand and generating sales around the world.
I wonder what was debunked. None of the horrible predictions have come to pass. I can still use filament from whatever manufacturer I want. Or what about the snippet of code that was being bantered about as the smoking gun? There was all manner of talking points but not a single example of one pointing out in the code exactly where the supposed malice was taking place. We got to read all manner of âexplanationsâ of how security keys work by people who donât have a clue. But then that may be a good thing. Much of it seems to have been propelled by the fact that, for example, most people are unaware that the public\private designations in computer languages have a different meaning than the general use of those terms.
I have updated my printers and Bambu Studio as the updates have become available. My printers have been working just fine throughout.
The thing is, Bambu is a private for-profit company. Even though they have taken from open source, as a starting point, as many others have and are allowed to, they are under no obligation to present their own work to the open source community. Especially considering that the technology has advanced beyond what most tinkerers are capable of fully understanding. The reason that Bambu printers are the premier consumer 3D printers on the market is because they have been professionally developed by trained and talented engineers and scientists.
I come from from the R&D world where one doesnât hope the competition gives away their technology. Rather competing products are procured, dissected, and reverse engineered in order to fully understand their operation, often times developing a better product in the process. Kind of like how AMD managed to make better x86 processors than Intel.
In general they take from open source, and the various bits they develop and are forced to open source are then collected by other volunteers (shout-out to noisy fox) and integrated into mainline orca/prusa eventually too. Contributing isnt the word I would use.
Thanks i think i have more of a hint on what is going on now and i agree to me it seems the old story that i have seen many times between a few well meaning people and a company that as far as i can see is following the rules on why most opensource licenses where made. It always been a area where mostly people on the sideline who just used opensource not made it scream the most. In my time i have done many opensource lines and was paid by companies todo opensource work (another myth most is done for free by developers). I guess ill look into it some more because i see other companies also âuseâ many parts but playing games with the licences way more by releasing way to late or only older version. I knew asking this might open a discussion but i guess also provides a âlooking backâ what really happened and what fears became true so far.
I understand the word forced here but while technically true its enforced by the license we have no idea what is in their minds its orcaslicer that forked as far as i can see bambu is/can be as opensource minded as they have to be and maybe already where before the fork. And i am sorry but it seems of all the printer companies using orca slicer its bambuâs work over 2025 i see contributed to the code base just because they âhave toâ doesnât mean they are not doing it and maybe still have the same view its not their job to integrated into forks or have the same âlove, peace and share your girlfriend(or boyfriend) look on lifeâ as long as they follow the license. Now open APIâs is a more interesting one i heard a interview with one brand on âwe made opensource rfid systemâ and was asked is it the same as the brand next to their stand (prusa) and it was âno but we hope others will join oursâ. To me as i see it now Bambu is following the licenses but is being a company and open apiâs in many areas of 3d printing is still ehmm evolving⌠Again this view is based on long history but i am nearly clueless on how the 3d printing space evolved (but did follow the whole fight on youtube for clicks at the start of 2025). Also again tnx of the answer.
Yikes I donât need to get into every point there but itâs almost all provably wrong
Start with Slic3r and arrive in 2025 and you wonât see bambuâs technical team anywhere along the way except to put a coat of paint on it and make sure it supports their machines custom gcode firmwares.
And ⌠how did you expect that would happen? Wake up one morning to see your printer completely locked out of any filament except RFID from BL and all sorts of restrictions along the way?
Of course no, donât be naive.
That process is always the one that takes quite a while and will be super slow and elusive. It already started with H2C and itâs proprietary nozzles with ID chip. And then it will slowly continue to erode that would result in a design changes that would make third party support hard or impossible. Design super convenient AMS that would be super fast and feed multilanes simultaneously? Sure thing, but along the way there would be some caveat that may break or reduce compatibility with something else.
Bambu is not the first one, bambu is not the last one.
Generally wheels on cars from different manufacturers are incompatible. Wheels from a Ford donât fit a Toyota and Toyota wheels donât fit a Ford, yet both companies do just fine. Ford starter motors work differently than the ones General Motors uses, yet both start their respective vehicles. Fender guitars use a different scale length than Gibson guitars, yet rock stars play both.
In the design phase of a product there is always the buy vs build discussion. Often times off-the-shelf parts work just fine but when you are designing cutting edge products, the old and tired often just doesnât cut it anymore. Take for instance that the engineers at Bambu designed a new advanced stepper motor to better extrude filament.
It appears to be a rather common problem among certain segments of the population. The fact that progress is always advancing and they canât stop it.
I did not say anything about compatibility. I said proprietary.
Great argument about wheels to show that you donât really understand what you are talking about. Yes, generally wheels from trucks are not compatible with small hatchbacks, because of the size, fit, function and bolt patterns.
However, thatâs not a problem, because all those ARE standardized.
Volkswagen? 5x112 hub.
Toyota? 5x114.3
Ford? Imagine what. They are the same as toyota, so also 5x114.3
So even in your own example you failed. But thatâs OK. The point is that no car manufacturer is using some random proprietary pattern that no one can use except them.
In that case wheels would equivalent to hotend types: A-style, X1-style, Revo, V6, etc. you name it. Vortek is different because itâs proprietary, meaning that in your H2C (your Toyota) you can only use BLâs original Vortek nozzles (OEM toyota wheels) and not 3rd party nozzles (aftermarket wheels).
Ah yes, that famous excuse of locking down and calling it âinnovationâ⌠Iâve heard it many times. Itâs quite popular among âcultureâ called fanboys. Apple did play it for a while with their parts pairing, and how it ended up? Now they were forced by regulation to change their approach and release repair parts.
Well since i started this and already feel i know all i wanted and will keep a eye on things. In the end this talk will end up in the same place/camps/sides/arguments ⌠I agree with 3dEd that both models can work fine and will be fine that has been proven over and over again and i feel bambu should follow the license and thats it nothing more nothing less and thats already more than most do. Using apple as a failure example because say europe wants to force them ? sure thats been going on for a while i know who is winning so far. In a way apple is a good example check how much of their work is part of opensource projects and you will find more than you think. But we must have a good and evil side i guess. The interesting thing is esp. with letâs call them hardware-apiâs having them closed over time can lead to more options for users not less. Take the old 30 pins connector once on most of their mobile devices closed sure but walk into any electronic store back then and 124 docks, speakers, all kinds of things and the others ? well a mess. Bambu has clearly been pushing things forward and have decided on a semi closed apple like way and thats fine and i will enjoy using them until i donât then ill move on. I use iphones and my friends use android itâs all good. If companies go too far it will resolve itself by lawsuit, gov push or best people just switching brands.
