Formlabs acquires Micronics
I guess they're just going to end up being really good but heavily overpriced like the rest of the FormLabs products.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/11/formlabs-acquires-3d-printing-startup-micronics-mid-kickstarter-campaign/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAL2GMkyOPYx_XBbxtK7lVkvRV69BiupeHz7l7mZEbX93C0D3eAsfS-Z227qWHoOvg9_wtytJFjI6xACKPki0NraRRVEL9vT7h3LUnYoH4b0t9r-5AznbKIouVqvSBocvHLau0m2pbEdJrR_MPFQ1HLzVSGV5k4iYgoW72MsDaVJvOpen linkView original on lemmy.blahaj.zone
unless they go open source, to me this aquisition is a similar but worse situation than IBM and Redhat
Selling out this quick to a company obviously trying to reduce competition, feels like they weren't all that committed to the cause.
They were in a very tough position, their printer was having major quality control issues, I think they probably needed money.
I have an Ender 3, it works much better than this printer. Watch Strange Parts on YouTube, he was sent a review printer and couldn't get it to print despite being on call with the inventor/CEO himself for hours to debug it. Also, Ender 3 had a fire risk with the bed power/PSU connector too.
From the CEOs perspective, doing this he can at least get the Kickstarter backers their money back since they likely couldn't get the printer to a good state given all the issues.
Agreed, and don't forget how important it is how much cheaper skilled labor is in China.
SLS4All has an entire machine kit for $7,000
https://sls4all.com/store/inova-mk1-parts-set-del-oct24/
It’s no $4,000. But it’s open source, so a potential candidate for Chinese derivatives and a race to the bottom like we saw with the Ender3.
Every man has his price at which he'll abandon any cause. Running a business is hard -- It's a big gamble and full of costs and expenses, you have to warranty the crap you make, source parts, fight with vendors, the whole lot. It's a pain in the ass. But taking a big cash payout is easy.
I'll bet these guys had student loans. And I'll bet you they don't anymore.
Disappointing, was looking forward to affordable SLS. Formlabs is just snatching them up because they hate competition.
Great way to stifle competition and keep prices inflated. I'm sure Formlabs' investors are chuffed.
Watch the Strange Parts videos, I wouldn't be too confident about that
Definitely makes me nervous - not a huge FL fan. But I also see how they make sense as a team.