Comment by ipv6ipv4 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ipv6ipv4 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

> I'm guessing most of OrcaSlicer's users are using bambu printers and if they upgrade to the firmware that requires bambu connect it's quite likely that the OrcaSlicer maintainers will have some interest in keeping the slicer working.

Yes. That's where the maintainers need to decide if they are Bambu Lab's lackeys or if they have a say in their beloved project. Part of that is thinking about at what point the project becomes pointless as a meaningful BambuSlicer alternative.

> The alternative is that users have to manually use bambu connect and that seems inferior to what the PR enables.

Everything is going to be inferior to using BambuSlicer. That is Bambu's real intent.

The OrcaSlicer maintainers probably have the most leverage (what little there may be) on Bambu Lab. I think that is why Bambu Lab is keen to offer the PR on GitHub. The maintainers should exercise whatever leverage they have while they still can.

> Yes. That's where the maintainers need to decide if they are Bambu Lab's lackeys or if they have a say in their beloved project.

I understand your anger, but I don't think that properly describes the situation. As a maintainer of an open source project your users are who you are about. If your users want support for bambu connect, then you are likely to implement it. Whatever Bambu does is whatever Bambu does, you need to accept it.

> Part of that is thinking about at what point the project becomes pointless as a meaningful BambuSlicer alternative.

Why would OrcaSlicer become pointless if it supports Bambu Connect? It also supports the Bambu network plugin.

> Everything is going to be inferior to using BambuSlicer. That is Bambu's real intent.

What would Bambu's motivation be to do that? I don't think they would have built Bambu Connect if the goal is not to support third party slicers to directly send things to the printer. Note that most 3d printers on the market didn't or still don't have integration into slicers.

I generally agree with your view on OrcaSlicer. I think we have a difference on what is better for the users and the project itself. I think it is better for the users if the maintainers take a stand against Bambu's dictat.

> Whatever Bambu does is whatever Bambu does, you need to accept it.

And maybe it is time to take your ball and go home.

> What would Bambu's motivation be to do that?

What is Bambu's motivation for being cloud first when it is not technically necessary? Why can't OrcaSlicer be a first class citizen like BambuSlicer? Instead it has to go through Bambu Connect which is inherently clunky and less featureful. It's simple. Control, and vendor lock-in. Possibly, Bambu sees this as a way to curtail print farm automation software from other vendors.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com