HP 3D Printing Announcement

[Marm]

<cynic>They will probably announce that development is ongoing, and that it's very exciting. And give a date for when they will give a date for their next announcement.</cynic>
I hope they actually announce a product, though I probably won't buy it.
I hope in vain that they announce a consumer-level 3D printer that competes on price with existing consumer-level 3D printers... Though even then I probably won't buy it.

Sorry I'm such a hater there, my dislike of the major 2D-printer companies really shows sometimes.

XYZ took their business model and ran with it. The "sell the machine cheap, but overcharge for replacement ink/filament" scam?

I fear the fututre where the DIY/Open source/moddable printers will get pushed to the side by the mega corp's continuing with this model.

[soofle616]

XYZ took their business model and ran with it. The "sell the machine cheap, but overcharge for replacement ink/filament" scam?

I fear the fututre where the DIY/Open source/moddable printers will get pushed to the side by the mega corp's continuing with this model.

I don't see diy/open/etc. printers being pushed out by this sort of model. While it's certainly feasable that large corporations jumping on the 3d printing bandwagon could produce dirt cheap printers with crazy expensive filament, unless there are no other sources for filament the DIY community can still make their own printers either with the designs available at the time or based on their own designs. Arduino and such is not going away (or will be replaced by something if it does), nor are the components like steppers, LCD's, guide rails/bearings and so on. The big corps getting into the game will change things for the average monkey consumer but for people that are already involved in this stuff or have the mental capacity to figure it out on their own, the materials and knowledge are already out there.