The creeping intrusion of industry and government into privacy and the rights of property ownership in the digital world is not in any way a new topic.
I am a fan of the YouTube channel Inheritance Machining and the channel’s recent video where a small replacement part is made for the Yerkes Observatory’s telescope. My family visited the Yerkes Observatory when I was a child of probably no more than 12 years of age. My memory of seeing the telescope and its lifting and lowering floor will remain with me for all my days. It is pleasant to see the dedication to continuing the legacy of scientific achievements as museums to those discoveries and to keep alive our collective knowledge of how we got to the advanced state where we find ourselves today in this modern world.
Bambu Lab sponsors Inheritance Machining’s channel and I was enamored with their simple-to-use and polished-looking fit-and-finish 3D printers. I was planning to buy a 3D printer from them as a “gift” to myself for achievements I’ve made in my life and career.
Fortunately, I am a fan of Louis Rossmann and fulu.org as well. It turns out that Bambu Lab has locked users out of their own 3D Printers unless they purchase and use cloud-based services that only Bambu Lab controls. That, in and of itself, is not a bad business model, they can contract with users that way if they wish. However, Bambu Lab used open-source software that was forked by a developer to provide the same features without needing Bambu Lab’s cloud. Bambu Lab came close to taking legal action against the developer, but Louis Rossmann took issue with this action by Bambu Lab. The 3D Printing community’s reaction has been extremely negative toward Bambu Lab, and understandably so. The action taken by Bambu Lab to close their systems and, presumably make more money by forcing people to use only their closed systems, has backfired.
Bambu Lab, inadvertently, sold me on getting a Sovol SV08 printer instead of a Bambu Lab printer that I thought I might get originally. I’m very thankful that I was better informed before my purchase by Rossmann and fulu.org and the right-to-repair, right-to-modify, and simply put, right-to-own community. Fight for your right to own the things you buy and pay for in full!
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