Thanks HN: Glowforge will open-source its firmware

Re:Thanks HN: Glowforge will open-source its firmware by uniclaude on Friday September 25, 2015 @12:26AM (#10276360)

This is outstanding. I want to order one of those lasers now. Not only because I like the product, but also because I want to support companies going this way.

I'm sure this will also help them attract talent. Amidst this patents/walled gardens/copyrights debate, someone saying: "If you buy it, it’s yours – you should be able to do what you want with it." is someone you might want to work with. Privacy advocates feeling scared to be tracked using their laser cutter will also welcome the news favorably.

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Re:Thanks HN: Glowforge will open-source its firmware by gohrt on Friday September 25, 2015 @01:08AM (#10276452)

See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10276430

They open source the firmware because the firmware is a dumb client; all the logic that controls the laser (aka makes it not set your house on fire) is hidden in the cloud.

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Re:Thanks HN: Glowforge will open-source its firmware by IshKebab on Friday September 25, 2015 @07:21AM (#10277480)

But that logic is hardly complicated. The firmware is the bit that would be really annoying to reverse engineer. The rest anyone can write fairly easily.

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Re:Thanks HN: Glowforge will open-source its firmware by uniclaude on Friday September 25, 2015 @03:07AM (#10276731)

Thanks for presenting a balanced opinion. I still find their position quite fair (looks like there lies their real business model) even though I wish they'd be more clear about it. Everything makes more sense now.

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