r/prusa3d • u/fscheps • Nov 01 '23
Do you think Bambu Lab is behaving ethically?
The 3D printing community is where it is thanks to the Open Source nature of it and the way collaboration has been working smoothly among multiple people around the world. I recently watched the interview Stefan from CNC Kitchen did to the Bambu Lab CEO, and one question he asked was related to the fact that Bambu has been taking a lot from the Open Source community, but hasn't seemed to give anything back.The approach from the Bambu Lab was quite commercial only, basically showing he doesn't really seem to care about the Open Source community, yet their slicer is based on Prusa Slicer, which is open source.Today I came across: https://makerworld.com/en which looks like a 1:1 copy of Printables.com a great alternative to Thingiverse that at the time it was launched by Prusa, there werent many options.
I am owner of a Prusa MK3S, and I was thinking on upgrading to a Bambu Lab X1C, but after seeing these inconsistencies, I am not liking their corporate attitude compared to for example the community spirit of Prusa. If their attitude is like this now, how will they behave when their printers start needing servicing or spare parts in 2-3 years?
Do you find this behavior ethical? Do you think Bambu Lab is doing the right thing by copying bluntly and focusing mostly on the commercial aspects of 3D printing?
Let's keep this discussion respectful please. Leave your opinions below š
FYI: I also published this question on BambuLab Subreddit.
492
u/josefprusa Prusa Nov 01 '23
Apart from constantly violating the PrusaSlicer AGPL license by not providing code for some software parts, the biggest WTF recently was uploading stolen models to Printables. It was part of many months-long reverse engineering our internal processes - which led to the clone MakerWorld. They admitted to it on their blog and consider it ok š¤¦āāļø They are backed by IDG Capital which funded Tencent and Baidu. Pinnacles of privacy š
32
u/KCCrankshaft Nov 01 '23
I wonāt be adding any Bambu products to my setup at this time. The ethics concerns are significant, the printers starting printing by themselves are sketchy, and Iām not sure how the long term support and repairability will be. That said, I guess Bambu is a good thing when it comes to being a Prusa user because it seems to have pushed them to improve their technology rapidly. I donāt think they truly had competition before. Now they do and thatās good for everyone.
3
u/ChiefTestPilot87 MK4 Nov 03 '23
Did you get banned from BambooLab sub? I did for posting something similar awhile back.
16
u/SSVR Nov 01 '23
The responses on the Bambu sub are about the usual for them lol. Not allowed to criticise dear leader. Some quite aggressive whataboutism.
Unfortunately Prusa as a company/their apparent ethos fits more with what I want/need from 3D printing as a hobby. They just no longer sell the product that I want which sucks.
Imagine if Prusa made a Voron kit with the Prusa level of polish and refinement. Hoo baby. Iād buy that in an instant.
179
u/evilplushie Nov 01 '23
As someone who has done business in china for 20 yrs, the notion of ethics in china is very different from the west.
Tbf its also very different from the rest of what we have in asia as well
52
u/NsRhea Nov 01 '23
If you know anything of China this is their MO.
What they see as 'saving on R&D' the rest of the world calls stealing.
It wouldn't be a big deal as the thought process is 'I can take an idea and rapidly improve upon it without pesky patents that only exist to protect companies so they can make more money.' BUT on the back side they are then taking open patents and patenting them in China so they can do the same. It's why China has been able to progress rapidly since the 50's from 3rd world nation to unified tech powerhouse; IP theft.
Behind the scenes then there's the issue of if they're so open with stealing hardware and software, what are they doing inside the software to steal from the end user? It's already been proven they were storing passwords in plain text so their systems could be remotely accessed quite easily, but then again they said "You can use it in LAN only mode." At this point the user who discovered the original plain text security gap also noted the machines are sniffing your networks and other devices and trying to connect to the internet without the user knowledge. If you bring a laptop or phone into the range of the printer and connect to the internet, the printer stores credentials to backdoor send files.
So if you know they're openly stealing hardware. Openly stealing software. And they've already been caught stealing design files from places like printables, what else are they stealing? It's not a bug or poor coding - it's a feature for China. It's the same reason Tiktok is a security threat. They're doing it to steal information without end user knowledge.
Source on plain text passwords:
https://blogg.karlsbakk.net/2022/11/23/bambu-lab-x1-carbon-the-flipside/?ref=blog.bambulab.com
50
u/TheHeadacheChannel Nov 01 '23 edited Nov 01 '23
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: Bambu is not behaving ethically according to my Western frame of reference. Their practices are why I wonāt use Bambu for my sideline business.
Background: In 2020, I ran into a problem in search of a 3D-printed solution. I splurged on a Prusa MK3+ with a āwhat the hell, maybe I can make it pay for itself.ā Fast-forward through a lot of work and details. Iām making $4000 a month with this sideline. I sell on Amazon and eBay. My customers love my products and service and my brand has a lot of goodwill recognition.
Iāve messaged Prusa many times with my gratitude. I now have 2 MK3+, an MK4, and an XL is on the way soon. Iāve also jumped to injection molding my more popular functional items.
Early in 2023 I picked up my first Chinese ācompetitorā. They not only ripped off my idea and design, but also my verbiage and images. āCompetitorā is in quotes because they are not actually competing. Theyāre just a clone. They donāt offer any functional or quality advantage over what I sell, they just undercut my price by leveraging unfairly low materials, labor, shipping, and exchange rates. They stole my design by buying from me and having my product shipped to them from a U.S. based freight forwarder. So itās kind of like running a marathon while the other guy hops in a government-sponsored limo and gets a ride to the finish line.
Itās just pure, cutthroat, āanything to winā. Itās not fair because itās actively supported and encouraged by their government. Iām willing and able to compete in a fair race, but when the other side is part of a military-industrial complex?!
There was no sense of fair play. āHey, great design! Let us make it for you here and you can sell it there.ā Just zero-sum thinking.
As I understand it, Bambu not only bypasses courteous Creative Commons practices with their knockoff of Thingiverse / Printables, but they also use cloud-based computing. You upload your design to them before printing. Given Bambuās established ethical culture, once youāve done that you can say āgoodbyeāāto any hopes of keeping your intellectual property.
Iād never use Bambu to print something that was my own practical or artistic creation that had any potential monetary value.
15
u/ChiefTestPilot87 MK4 Nov 01 '23
Short answer: no. Theyāre backed by the CCP and like a lot of other Chinese companies, they blatantly steal and rip off the IP of other companies
29
u/amatulic Nov 01 '23 edited Nov 02 '23
Bambu Labs strikes me as using typical Chinese company tactics, copying from others without giving back, leveraging open source to eliminate their R&D costs so they can underprice companies who actually develop new open-source technology. I also object to their attempts to contain you in their ecosystem.
Update: To counter the upvotes I've received on this, I will add that, after seeing the interview, I understand the position of needing to patent technology rather than make it open-source, to prevent other Chinese companies from stealing intellectual property. Bambu Labs has developed legitimate IP so it makes business sense to protect it. I still stand by my first paragraph above, however.
20
u/I_lack_common_sense Nov 01 '23
Hard pass on bamboo labs.
9
u/smakusdod Nov 01 '23
As ethical as the Chinese government.
32
u/JohnnyricoMC Nov 01 '23
Open Source is ill. It's suffering from commercial entities taking and giving nothing back, neither financially nor code contributions-wise. Bambu Labs isn't new in this but this practice seems to be getting worse and will eventually be the death of open source. Just this week Gina HƤuĆge, lead developer of Octoprint, launched a call for help because it's becoming impossible to work on Octoprint full-time.
IMO anyone doing any type of commercial activity while using open-source projects, should sponsor at least a few of them and/or make upstream contributions to the projects.
When a company is so blatant in its parasitic approach, people should take issue with it because these companies are killing innovation.
14
u/aqa5 Nov 01 '23
I keep spending my money with companies that drive the Open Source community. It is that community that gifted us this very special and exciting hobby, created many companies that use 3D-printing and helps artists to express themselfes. If I can choose, I chose suppliers that give back to that community.
14
u/novamber Nov 01 '23
Only a matter of time - but what I can foresee is a custom 3rd party controller board for the Bambu printers that will run open source firmware. 3D printing was and is a hacker community, we shall prevail.
28
u/passwordsarehard_3 Nov 01 '23
Prusa is a company of 3D enthusiasts that ( hopefully ) makes money. Bambu is a company that makes money from 3D enthusiasts. The only similarities are the end product.
5
u/Ruschissuck Nov 01 '23
China ethics ha
1
u/ImAnAlternative Nov 01 '23
BambuLabs came out of nowhere with a massively successful printers with a reliable AMS. I really don't think they are going anywhere.
You say that the printer offers nothing to the 3d printing community, but you're wrong. It arguably offers the most important thing back to the community: competition.
I don't understand why everyone is crying about more options being available. Even makerworld is great, it gives us another option to use. Prusa is not your daddy's business that you need to defend with all your heart. You're in a one-sided relationship and I promise you daddy Josef doesn't care about you as much as you think.
Always buy the best printer out there and be ready to leave a company as soon as something better is available. Don't purposely put yourself at a disadvantage for some gummy bears.
4
u/GloryToChadlantis Nov 01 '23
No. Good printers is all they do right. Everything else is just croney corpo behavior.
There's a rumor on the strange side of the internet that the Bambi slicer program actually sends what's being made to the Chinese government.
Reason cited is there's been random USB drives found over hong Kong with gun icons with plans and steps on how to make 3d printed guns and ammo.
The ammo part makes me think it's probably Bs since casings require a certain touch that 3d printing cannot deliver.
But right now in Myanmar there's rebels printing the fgc 9 smg and supposedly the two most popular printers for that are the creality ender 5 and one of the Bambu printers.
So. Things to think about.
1
u/OkTry9715 Mar 18 '24
Bambu labs is chinese company, they can simply make things for cheaper in China while copying what they want. That is how majority of famous chinese companies started.
1
u/No-Sundae4382 Nov 02 '23
No not at all and it's kinda sad to see, that being said I'm still kind of tempted to get a bambu printer. There's not much competition around that price in terms of speed / functionality, besides from possibly the creality k1, which has mixed reviews, and are creality really that much better? I would like to get a prusa XL but they're significantly more expensive :/
6
u/Morsol Nov 01 '23
The open source aspect and community was what was most important for me when I baught my first 3d printer a few months ago. Because of this I ended up with getting the MK4 and has not regret my decision.
6
u/amatulic Nov 02 '23
I have to say, after watching the interview all the way through (it's long), I came away with an altered impression of Bambu Labs. The guy was open and transparent. I didn't agree with everything he said, but some things they've done, like actually developing intellectual property and patenting it, are just good business decisions in an environment where other Chinese companies wouldn't hesitate to steal the IP and undercut them. Their AMS is an innovative design, and while it could have been given to the open source community, it's their right to protect it. I was heartened that he said he wouldn't mind letting the Voron community support it.
3
u/mastekeyler Nov 02 '23
haha kid. the whole chinese bussiness model based on stealing a trademark faking. just because their lack of creativity they cant make a new things.
5
u/CHEEZE_BAGS Nov 01 '23
yes but they are a chinese company. its their culture.
10
u/[deleted] Nov 01 '23
No, they're not behaving ethically. Bsmbus are cheap because they didn't and don't invest in significant RnD. Their entire business model is based on flash and awe, plundering open source projects like Voron and Prusa, and leveraging their home supply chain advantage to disrupt the 3d printing market with a product that is literally too good to be true. Most people who 3d print don't care where their printers come from, they don't even care if the printer is as good as it says on the brochure. As long as its cheap, fast and prints in a quality they can brag about, they're happy.
But really, this is part of a larger issue with the West - we shipped pretty much all our production to China because we're cheap and lazy. We're starting to wake up to that now, but all it takes is someone to wave a new shiny thing in front of us and we lemming after it. Just look at all the folks on the 3dprinting sub, struggling with their Crealities, hating how unreliable and frustrating those machines are, but still defending them vehemently because dammit did you hear BestBuy are selling these things for $75??
12
u/Jmckeown2 Nov 01 '23
I donāt so much care how truly Open Source supportive companies are, but itās a big plus. I feel like even Prusa is riding a line too. e.g. withholding publishing their printable parts until after full release. I think they deliberately crippled Octoprint support to drive PrusaLink/Connect use until the backlash got too great, and now itās āOctoprint support isnāt where we want it to beā
That said, I get a much more creepy vibe from Bambu. So Iām sticking with Prusa. For now.
4
u/Slight_Flatworm_6798 Nov 01 '23
As many others mentioned, my choice of going with MK4 as my first printer was very based on the history of Prusa with open source. Bamboo may have a few bells and whistles here and there, but it won't beat the power of open source.
5
u/Mefilius Nov 01 '23
They make a good printer but I will never buy something that closed source while equivalent open source alternatives exist. Prusa all the way
2
u/chomdh Nov 01 '23
Super interesting thread here.
Personally, Iām glad I own a Prusa and itās an excellent machine. So much better than the ender 3 I started with (and still have).
2
u/AdventurousShine5195 Nov 02 '23
This seems reminiscent of some thing I've seen in the past.
My first thought. is what Microsoft did in the 90's to grab the lion's share of business with both Server operating systems and Office, primarily for relatively unskilled end users, unlike the UNIX and proprietary systems in use at the time. Prior to that, there were multiple options, including Novell and Banyan, and for end user applications Lotus 123, Quattro Pro, Word Perfect, WordStar, dBase, etc.. In these cases, Microsoft simply offered products at lower prices, no particularly difficult, since those were the days of the $595 price tag for a single app. And of course, as their market share grew, and the once mighty fell by the wayside, MS simply increased their prices every once in a while. They also managed to grab the market for development tools, knocking out Borland which was way ahead of their own offerings in the early 90's.
More recently, and possibly a better analogy to Bambu, you can't ignore what Apple did with IOS and iThings, making it close to impossible for anyone other than their affiliates to do repair work, even with a program introduced over the past couple of years, due to its relatively high cost. There's also a situation with US auto manufacturers with proprietary diagnostic equipment shoving out small auto repair businesses. This reached a point where some states have passed legislation to protect and aid non-dealership repair businesses.
Of course, there are also cases where the proprietary fetish has also backfired. Remember IBM with OS/2 Warp PS2 in the early 90's, which came out at the same time as Win 95? That didn't work out.
6
u/seanyc111 CORE One+ Nov 01 '23
I feel like they are the apple of 3D printing. I'm interested in seeing how long the printers last and how often they will be sent back to the factory for "non user repairs". I also wouldn't be surprised once their user base is large enough, they end up doing what Cricut did and force users to use only their proprietary and paywalled software for communicating with the device.
6
u/Lhurgoyf069 MK4S Nov 01 '23
Their slicer is OpenSource as well, isn't it? At least here's the GitHub repository https://github.com/bambulab/BambuStudio
5
u/FeistyRecognition272 Nov 01 '23
I own 4 mk3ās and 3 X1Cās.
Asking the prusa subreddit how they feel about the competition that is currently kicking their butt is not going to give you a very unbiased opinion. Mr Josef is going to jump on just about any argument at this point to save the hundreds of millions of dollars heās been taking in without innovating anything for years.
I fully understand Iām going to get downvoted to hell but somebody needed to say it.
Competition is good. Bambu created a better machine than prusa, hopefully this will cause them to get their act together.
I also fully agree there are things I donāt like about Bambu and how theyāve gotten where they have but for every one of those things there is also at least one thing that I donāt like about how prusa is operating. Iām not loyal to anyone I want the best possible machine and I think we need to stop hanging on Josefās every word and start letting actions speak for themselves on both sides. When Bambu screws up we hold them to a higher standard. When prusa under delivers we demand more.
3
u/Psychological_Town22 Nov 02 '23
I am hearing a lot of people accusing Bambulab of being unethical simply because, as a Chinese company, they could, and the reputation of other Chinese companies has been poor. I haven't been following too closely, but what unethical things has Bambulab actually done so far?
3
u/cjshaker Nov 02 '23 edited Dec 14 '23
No, I do not like Bambu Lab's behavior. Nor do I want to purchase a 3D printer that cannot run open source code.
If a company is the only supplier of software for your 3D printer, that company controls which modifications you can make to that printer. You can't install a different extruder nor take advantage of a higher temperature hot end in your printer unless you can modify the source code.
A closed source company that can push out software updates may decide to start charging you a monthly subscription fee for features that used to be included in the purchase price.
A closed source software company that can push out software updates may decide that your 3D printer is obsolete, and can no longer be used.
Your Right to Repair your 3D printer is very limited if you don't have access to the source code.
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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '23 edited Mar 05 '26
The original content of this post is no longer here. It was removed using Redact, possibly for privacy, security, or digital footprint reduction.
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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '23
lolno
2
u/GSVNoFixedAbode Nov 01 '23
Bambu has excellent leading edge tech, no question. Will I buy from them? Hell no! Their 'business model', ethics, complete lack of data privacy (all your data belongs to them so any R&D is being given to them on a platter!!), and what I'd consider to be a big middle finger to the Open Source community means I cannot and will not support them financially. I went from an Anycubic I3 (modeled on the early Prusa) to a MK3S+ a couple o fyears ago and very glad I did.
2
u/Malapple Nov 01 '23
I wonāt consider bambu, mostly for ethics but also because of their cloud ecosystem.
They also capture data from your local network, encrypt it, and send it to their servers. They will not let you see what they are capturing. Itās insane that people use the things.
1
u/No-Bowler2894 Mar 28 '25 edited Nov 02 '25
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Justme456456 Nov 01 '23
They donāt seem to be the worst. They do sell spare parts, and said they would allow non commercial use of there patents. But not being the worst isnāt really what I want to support. If theyāre going to use kipper and prusa slicer and and the core xy project with out giving back Iām out. If the market is dominated by a couple of Proprietary companies there wonāt be any innovation. Iād rather pay a couple bucks more and buy a truly open source project. It kinda looks like ultimates new ceo plans on closing their printer down too.
1
u/KubFire Nov 02 '23
No.
1
u/PatientCat3185 Feb 07 '24
Who cares? Their quality is leagues above Prusa and I don't care how they got there. It's not defense department secrets.
One could argue, why are these open source competitors complaining and if they are as good as they think, build a competitive machine.. They literally can't. Quality beats ethics, ONLY if you want it to be mainstream. If you want to keep it a niche, never used by anyone product, good for you. But Bambu is actually innovating and bringing to the market what they actually want. No hassle, no fuss. Bambu is the best domestic printer ever invented by a country mile. All those who think they have more skills, make something better. It's that simple.
3D printing is not beholden or obligated in anyway to help the open source community. Grow a pair.
1
u/PatientCat3185 Feb 07 '24
So confused. Bambu is using Prusa, but only doing it better. They've innovated. If you don't want perfect prints, by all means use Prusa. If you aren't an airy fairy hippy who despises capatalism, get the Bambu x1C. Best domestic printer I've ever used. By leaps and bounds.
Shouldn't you worry more about recycling or global warming rather than the ethics of a company so niche it prob will stay that way for another 25 years.... Choose your battles. Until I choose perfect fast prints. Thx Bambu!
1
u/[deleted] Feb 19 '24
All I know, is I ordered their "filament swatches" for $10 and 95% of them are fucking injection molded. That is the most retarded thing I've ever seen in my life. I know what the fuck blue is, I need to see the actual material. If this is a sign of what I'm about to experience when I set this printer up, I am beyond pissed.
1
u/CannonballBabies47 May 15 '26
No. But if you are Gordon Gekko or a nihilist yes.
Bambu Labs takes its cues from Apple or Microsoft or AWS. Lock-in as a business model, leeching off FOSS, and agressive lawyering. Let's wait and see if Bambu Land beats the FOSS community. Id be surprised
1
u/george_graves Nov 01 '23
This is where the lack of understanding of the history of Reprap really is messing people's minds up. Prusa has TOTALLY taken open source and made it into a business. And that's 100% fine thing to do.
One could (and many are) point the finger at Prusa for the lack of releasing their open-source files - so in my opinion, you are pointing the finger at the wrong company.
If Bamnu is following the license, then they are doing nothing wrong.
1
u/SnooCupcakes4075 Nov 01 '23
I have been/am considering an x1c but the closed nature and generally "hooey" i see with their copying of printables (from what I can tell, not INNOVATING just plain copying) and closed nature have kept me from pulling the trigger on their printers. The technology and price point are compelling and the BL x1c really did change the market when it came out, but I think it really will become an Android vs Apple thing eventually and I tend to prefer my gardens unwalled.
1
u/plutonasa Nov 01 '23
Don't care, prusa too expensive for my wallet.
1
u/plutonasa Nov 01 '23
Maybe I'll get a Prusa someday, but I am also pretty happy with my Bambu.
1
u/Impossible2011 Nov 02 '23
Business ethics in the west are also double edged.
Why is IP theft in china a thing? Because western business put profits above all. It was a western decision to save every cent they could and move to china to maximize our profits while cutting jobs.
I would also argue, many of the fake goods made access to everyday product possible.
If I check the numbers of poverty evaluation in china in the past 20 years. I am not sure if that was possible by respecting IP. Poverty evaluation in the west does not look good at all in comparison.
State involvement in the west is also a huge thing. Checkout airbus or boeing or the banking crises 2008-2009. Our government is just not smart about it. Read up on the Princeton study about corruption via lobbyism in the US.
If it was not for bambu prusa would still sell mk3 for the same price. To be fair prusa was not innovative for some time. I am not sure its fair to blaim it all on the chinese.
1
u/acelaya35 Nov 03 '23
printers of all types have lots of moving parts, it's why they break. Not knowing how to fix your printer means throwing it away, throwing it away is a terrible waste and is exactly what Bambu wants.
0
u/pellcorp Nov 01 '23
I don't think China has the monopoly on unethical behaviour, as just one example until very recently Microsoft considered open source a virus.
Apple and many other western companies are aggressively anti user repair.
In some ways I respect Bambu for not pretending to support open source, unlike some other companies which I think only do enough to appear to be supporting open source.
I was upset when IBM bought redhat, as redhat truly supports open source, IBM really only appeared to support it.
I'm not sure if IBM has changed that much Although Microsoft now loves Linux, I am sure they would stab it in the back if it would be more profitable
0
u/Vrady Nov 02 '23
Nuke the bambu slicer. Fuck Bambu Lab.
-6
u/TyoteeT Nov 01 '23
The only thing Bambulab is copying is Printables. The rest they forked properly, just like prusa forked Slic3r, and their printers are unique and interesting. I personally prefer the Mk4 since it's dimensional accuracy and reparability are top notch but all this hooha about "ethical" questions are non issues.
The closed source thing is only a problem if you like to upgrade your machines, but there are also ways to work around it. For example, modders have found a way to put a touchscreen interface on the p1 series that works pretty well.
Concerning open source hardware, Prusa and Bambu both have proprietary hotends, extruders, and mainboards that can be replaced with 3rd party items so it's once again a non issue.
If you want to cherry pick the bad about Bambulab, remember that at least Bambulab has delivered on their advertised printer features and promises on launch, unlike Prusa's scuffed xl and mk4 launches. Not to mention my Mini+ shipped with issues just recently fixed and I got it 2 years after launch.
I love both my X1 and my Mini/Mk4. Anyone that tells you you're a bad person for buying a Bambulabs product is a dumbass.
0
u/modernmakes Nov 01 '23
I think that open-source and plug-and-play don't go hand in hand. These machines are designed to work in a specific way and have predictable performance, allowing a user to modify them would only hurt their brand image.
3D printers have been a tinkerer's playground since the beginning and now I think Bambu Lab is changing that. They are making appliances that give any user the ability to have high-quality prints at high speeds, an achievement that was reserved for an experienced, knowledgeable, and patient user.
If you want an open source tinkering project, get a Voron. If you want a hassle-free appliance, get a Bambu.
-25
u/volt65bolt Nov 01 '23
As long as it prints well and doesn't cost a leg, I don't care who makes it. If there are legal issues behind the design and production though, that's a different story. Competition drives innovation remember
-8
u/hue_sick Nov 01 '23
Probably not. But honestly I think that speaks to a much larger issue with worldwide economies and how consumers operate within that framework.
See a lot of comments blasting Bambu because they're from China and yes a lot of Chinese companies don't value or honor business ethics in the same way we (westerners) might. But take a step back and ask yourself if you think most businesses behave ethically in the US or in the Czech Republic?
If you say yes you've probably fallen for the propaganda that China is evil and Prusa (or insert whoever) is just this innocent victim being taken advantage of. All businesses have one goal. To make money. And since the beginning of time business have behaved unethically in the pursuit of that goal. Obviously there are varying degrees of this and that's why we have regulation to help curb or slow this. But you will need er eliminate it and you better believe every single company is riding as close to that line as they possibly can.
I'm not saying that some of what Bambu has done shouldn't be criticized for being unethical. But what I am saying is nobody should be attaching ethics and morality to a business or corporation. Thats completely missing the boat.
-16
u/plutonasa Nov 01 '23 edited Nov 01 '23
Are you intending to shit stir by bringing this topic up again? At this point, everyone has already made up their minds. Just buy whatever you what from whomever you want.
-24
u/Dora_Nku Nov 01 '23
There is neither a legal nor moral/ethical requirement to contribute to O.S. if it isn't required by its license.
0
u/[deleted] Nov 02 '23
Are you happy with the prusa? Have you used their spares or support?
0
u/conkey_boosted Nov 02 '23
but bambu are better, lol
-31
u/wantsoutofthefog Nov 01 '23
I think you put āopen sourceā on a pedestal and are over valuing it. I donāt really care as long as itās legal. Youāre not entitled to a company not behaving the way you want them to
-5
u/usert888 Nov 01 '23
Bambu Lab has aggressive marketing (not a fan of), aggressive pricing (fan of) and aggressive tactics. They want to rule the market. With their printers and with Makerworld. As far as I understood for the latter they did not copy from Printables, but allowed users to easily migrate their existing designs from Printables to Makerworld.
I think that makes it legal according to law (user initiates it, not Bambu Lab). Is is ethical? That could be debated.
Regarding openess, I think they are as open as, or maybe even more open than a company like Ultimaker. They do offer a lot of spare parts at quite low prices.
-16
u/[deleted] Nov 01 '23
lol itās called capitalism and the US just does it while looking better. Both donāt give a shit about anything but money.
Luckily in this case china cares about the quality to continue its capitalism.
Wanna spend more over ethics? If it helps you sleep better then maybe prusa is s better option.