This hypothetical is not applicable at the moment to current lineup and makes no sense in discussing it (that’s why I said “to not get into that” and that it’s “neither here nor there”) because current issue is more pressing and such limits could only be feasibly implemented in new products.
Now, the security minded people would probably need to explain yet again that “Bambu Connect” is NOT good way to do “security” purposes. In order for that security to be good for any amount of users it would have to be implemented by security experts, certainly nobody who thinks “hey let’s make a standalone shim app in js packaged using electron” is a good idea.
Thanks for the in-depth comments. Indeed, some form of cloud may provide value and convenience for me and many other users. The problem is that we do not have enough data to say what is profitable for BBL and what is not. For example, in one year I have spent more on BBL filament than I have paid for the x1c, at the price of filament probably 30-100% more than I would have normally paid for other brands. Does this bring enough profit to sustain the cloud services? I do not know.
What I do know is that I never wanted cloud services or another subscription, and if the working LAN-only mode was not available, I would have never purchased a BBL printer. It is that simple. Now, with all the drama, I am not waiting for the new flagship BBL, and instead I have already ordered a printer from a different brand. This new firmware announcement by BBL is going to be remembered by me (I can’t speak for everybody) for a long time, as it seems very unlikely that I will be buying another BBL printer or filament anytime soon. It is easy to break trust, but it is very hard to get it back.
There is also another train of thought about cloud services and costs. Cloud provides data to BBL and data are not free. That is why LAN mode was crippled, and that is why BBL pushes everyone into the cloud.
Reasons for enforcement actions against ByteDance (the company that owns and runs TikTok, a social media platform) don’t seem too applicable to Bambu Labs.
I can answer that: Because we want them to rethink what they’re planning on doing. Or-- be more convincing that it makes for a better product and don’t be so forceful about it.
Several other here (including me) have said similar things to him. He seems to just want someone to play the strawman for him. I decided ignoring his profile was the better option.
Winner winner chicken dinner! Just with the likes of facebook, twitter and all of the free google services (to name a few) are “free” … the data collected about us that we freely and gladly share on those services is the payment for service. I honestly don’t think that really applies to Bambu Labs, as I would have thought they made their money in printer and filament sales, and the 3D printer files they could sniff out weren’t worth anything, but then again, who knows.
Usage patterns are still quite valuable - they can optimize their orders/production on the filament side by knowing how their users use their printers, potentially saving millions on warehousing/shipment optimization alone; they can figure out what are the most common formats being printed, what kind of settings people use, what fails the most etc. and use that as an input for their next product line up instead of doing expensive and dubious marketing research…
And that is only with the data from their ecosystem alone, the real power of ‘big data’ comes when you start correlating it with other datasets. I don’t know what are BL plans in terms of data engineering, but no business willingly rejects data and telemetry, unless their USP is privacy - which BL doesn’t seem to care about at all.
While this is a nice attempt, you’re basically asking him to give up the ability to generate millions $$$ from hundreds of thousands of subscriptions. In a fight of money vs morals, unfortunately money wins 99% of the time.
This whole thing is giving me Sony PlayStation 3 vibes. They sold the devices with a capability that they subsequently removed. In the PS3 case, it was Linux boot capability. They used a locked bootloader to prevent people from bypassing this post sale restriction. All of this was in the name of security.
Then, GeoHotz unlocked the bootloader so PS3 owners could use the device in the same way they had since they purchased it. Sony then filed suit against GeoHotz to block his unlock methods. Ultimately, Sony dropped the lawsuit.
In the end, the buyers were harmed and left with a bias against Sony for a long time.
Welcome to the forum! When I read that it brought back a memory I’d completely forgotten about. Remember back in 2013(2012?) when Microsoft announced the Xbox One?
It had to be connected to the internet at all times to work
The Connect Camera had to be connected at all times
When you installed a game disc it was locked to your account so no selling/trading/giving away.
Woooo, were people mad. Shortly after that they completely reversed 2 and 3. I think they changed the internet connectivity to setup and certain activities.
You hit the nail in the head! This is exactly why people oppose the changes. Overnight, our printers can turn into bricks with or without subscription if BBL not approving our print jobs, which can happen for many different reasons. This can be as simple as the Internet/cloud outage, or because BBL doesn’t like what/how we are trying to print, and maybe even because BBL is not there any longer.
But to be fair, this is the case with all cloud connected services… unless they have a zero log / absolute privacy policy. The difference here is that there is the possibility this being forced upon you for a later product (subscription based).
This is also why I have a love/hate relationship with Tuya based IoT devices. I love Tuya for (at least initially) for standardising things and making it so there were a bunch of devices available that could be easily flashed to Tasmota for absolute offline/local control over your device. Then Tuya started to use to a different (incompatible) chip, and then that option was off the table (although it seems like ESPHome is another option now) … now was that enshitification or simply moving to a cheaper part?
When given a choice between simple and complicated, most people will choose simple every time as long as simple returns great results.
So, I’d argue that 99% of all users would choose the easy-to-use, walled-garden, highly supported option where all the money is for BBL.
Just let advanced users sign-up for complicated. Let them control the hardware they own, if they choose.
The positive influence satisfied advanced users would have over the purchasing decisions of everyone else will far outweigh the fact that they aren’t paying a subscription fee, or are using third party slicers or filaments.
People like simple. Offer both simple and complex. Make simple the default. Most people will choose simple. Those that choose complex will sell even Bambu to even more people who only ever use simple.
Just with the likes of facebook, twitter and all of the free google services (to name a few) are “free” … the data collected about us that we freely and gladly share on those services is the payment for service. I honestly don’t think that really applies to Bambu Labs, as I would have thought they made their money in printer and filament sales, and the 3D printer files they could sniff out weren’t worth anything, but then again, who knows. 