George Schneeloch

I'm a little disappointed by the decision by Makerbot to go closed source in their new software Makerware and hardware. I have hacked around with Replicatorg and I'm not sure I'll get the opportunity to do that with Makerware (although I understand that Replicatorg was in desperate need of replacement.) It's also disheartening to see a company work with its community base and then turn its back. I don't really understand the reason for keeping Makerware closed given that their product is hardware and that Makerware will not be worth much without it.

On the other hand, if Makerbot were always a closed source company, would anyone care about this decision? I suppose not, but the community is incredibly important for a company like that which works with something experimental. Maybe it doesn't matter if the hardware is "open". Most hardware isn't. But where will they draw the line? Sealing off components in an attempt to prevent cloning? Requiring some sort of NDA to those that do want to tinker with the hardware? Will add-ons need licensing? I'm also curious what the Makerbot developers program will require. Will I be able to write a plugin for Makerware which also works for a competing piece of software? Maybe those questions will be answered favorably, but in any case there is a lack of trust between the community and the company.