Uncle Jesse is now weighing in with his POV.
the comparisons he makes to MakerBot I think are really relevant.
"Never p!ss off the nerds!" 
I don't want to say that I saw this coming and I don't think Creality is much different. However, when I looked and saw the reviews that the Creality K1C got positive reviews, I decided on that, especially when I saw that Creality committed to open source and allows one to root the system for user modifications. I did not feel that I needed the color changing of the K2 models since I don't like the way so much filament is wasted in color changes. I like the Prusa unit with the multiple hot ends, but that is well beyond my needs and means at this time. The most I would need at this time is to pause, do a manual color change, and resume to put contrasting printed label on a part.
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If they had the ecosystem, Im sure they'd try it too - but they are too lazy to build a proper ecosystem, and therefore lack the opportunity. Every printer they've ever released has used Open Source firmware - the most software dev work they've ever done is to skin Cura or Orca Slicer.
I dont print very many items that need colour changing, but it would be super useful for some functional prints that I make for electronics projects. eg
Plus I would find it usefully for quickly swapping between materials and for using PETG as support material for the occasional difficult print.
I think this point has eluded Bambu. The enthusiast crowd (like us here) probably wield a disproportional amount of influence compared to the size of this user base. If you start actively putting people off their printers they will feel it.
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100%, 3DP nerds are the reason they have a huge consumer market to begin with, we bought their printers and told normal ppl that they were great and they should buy one.
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I disliked Elegoo's skinned Cura so I used SuperSlicer for the Neptune X. I went directly with OrcaSlicer for the K1C, finding that a printer profile was there for this printer.I'm happy about that.
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I did something similar, AnyCubic supplied a rubbish and old skinned Cura with my Mega Zero, so I went to Prusa Slicer after finding Cura to be a PITA, then SuperSlicer, and now Ora Slicer. I guess im a bit of a Slicer Slut!
Looks like they've done a massive backtrack Updates and Third-Party Integration with Bambu Connect
Now we get a developer mode at our own risk (lol). But they've definitely hit an own goal on the trust side.
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Yep, that is a huge walk back!
Yep, they will get a lot more scrutiny in the future as a result of this.
I'm glad they walked it back.
That said, I really wasn't that angry about it. When I bought it, I knew it was essentially an all-in-one closed system.
Sure people were using it otherwise, but I don't think they ever claimed that it was fully open, modifiable, extendable in the first place.
Some people get more angry about that than others, and I do get it as usually I'm one of those guys.
But my bambu is literally the only 3D printer I've had that I don't have to jack around with constantly. I don't have to fart around with settings, I don't have to mess around with firmware, I don't spend a lot of time tweaking slicer settings.
The damn thing just works, and works every time I ask it to. And I'm pretty okay with that for my uses.
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The problem here is not exactly about how closed it is/was. The problem is forcing people into using there slicer through there servers even in lan mode, shutting down all possibility to use third party devices like the Panda Touch, etc.
For print farms not wanting to get into the Bambu pay monthly for there print farm software with limited functionality compared to others, this was most likely a big problem and I'm pretty sure this was the main motivator for doing a 100°, notice it was not a complete 180° either, they will keep going forward with there plan but leave you the possibility to opt out, again this could change again in the long run.
If they were really concerned about security, they would just stop forcing EVERYONE (unless you opt out) to have to connect it to the internet and have to push your GCODE to there servers and back to your computer by default and force you to authenticate through there servers in LAN mode unless you go to now a third option that is developer mode (and not supported by them for some reason). This is just bullshit to be able to sell your personnel info and habits to third partys and make a maximum of money off your back.
LAN mode should be LOCAL, there should not have a need to go into a developer mode for it to be truly LOCAL, it's just mischievous as hell and reflects exactly what the company is.
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I agree that local control should be... local. No argument at all.
Like I said, how much that bothers people will vary. It doesn't really bother me on this device, but I totally understand how it would some people and/or people with large print farms.
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Yup, that's a not a good look either.
But since I update my firmware each release anyway, that still isn't a deal breaker for me as a casual user. Obviously that doesn't mean I agree with that policy though.
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Agreed, taking away consumer options that were widely known about and actively used is the issue.
To provide a conversational detour, I'll just leave this here.
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Louis has a few extra words to say ...
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Yep he's pissed off alright! Speaking even faster than normal!
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Yep, it would be hilarious if it wasn't for Bambu being blatantly dishonest.
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