Anyone think 3D Systems or Stratasys could still be Acquired?

[Eddie]

Autodesk. They acquire everyone and everything

While I think this is possible, I also think Autodesk is more inclined to focus on software rather than hardware. Their goal is more than likely to become integrated with all 3D printers, but I doubt they will ever make a move to acquire a hardware manufacturer. Of course, I'm not Carl Bass, so I could be wrong.

[Roxy]

While I think this is possible, I also think Autodesk is more inclined to focus on software rather than hardware. Their goal is more than likely to become integrated with all 3D printers, but I doubt they will ever make a move to acquire a hardware manufacturer. Of course, I'm not Carl Bass, so I could be wrong.

Maybe... But 18 months ago they announced they were going to lead the effort and development of 'Spark' which was going to be the dominate 3D-Printer Operating System. It seemed to me, the big 'advantage' of Spark was that it was going to enforce licensing fees and not allow multiple prints of a bought model. So... if they are still trying to make Spark happen, it might make sense for them to acquire a big name printer company and 'Encourage' them to use Spark. At least within the RepRap community, Spark hasn't even created a big yawn. I'm not sure most RepRap'ers even know it exists.

And really... It wouldn't be that hard to monitor the wires going to the different stepper motors and record everything the printer is doing. With that data, it should be straight forward to de-compile those movements into a clean .STL file.

If Stratasys should ever get bored with claiming people that use non-proprietary filament are felons, they can start claiming people that watch electrical signals on stepper motors are felons also and need to be locked up!

[Eddie]

Maybe... But 18 months ago they announced they were going to lead the effort and development of 'Spark' which was going to be the dominate 3D-Printer Operating System. It seemed to me, the big 'advantage' of Spark was that it was going to enforce licensing fees and not allow multiple prints of a bought model. So... if they are still trying to make Spark happen, it might make sense for them to acquire a big name printer company and 'Encourage' them to use Spark.

But really... It wouldn't be that hard to monitor the wires going to the different stepper motors and record everything the printer is doing. With that data, it should be straight forward to de-compile those movements into a clean .STL file.

If Stratasys should ever get bored with claiming people that use non-proprietary filament are felons, they can start claiming people that watch electrical signals on stepper motors are felons also and need to be locked up!

Everything I got out of my discussions with Autodesk relating to Spark is that the Spark Platform isn't a means to make money from selling hardware but rather a means for showing off the software end of things, and recruiting hardware manufacturers to use their system. Of course this could conceivably change over time but I still feel Autodesk wants to stick to software.