my main concern with the cricut and silhouette machines is i probably don't want to use the manufacturer's shitted up software, and the open source replacements are hacks that might be janky and could probably be squashed at any time (i'm not actually sure the status of replacement software for each of these machines, because i always get them confused and haven't paid much attention)

generally, though, i do enjoy taking advantage of scaled-up (cheap) commercial products. but i also value supporting an open, small business (EMSL, and now Bantam Tools) that is active in the communities using its products.