I really don't understand all of the negativity aimed at the 3Doodler. They don't appear to be claiming it's revolutionary, so perhaps everyone could stop acting outraged that somebody had the nerve to put an interesting product in a consumer friendly package and market it effectively.
Seriously. The guys who made it run a toy company.
The problem is, the toy is seemingly imperfect and pretty simple, and yet it's gotten a ton of praise, and a ton of money. Some of the rest of the world then gets mad because they didn't think of and capitalize on this seemingly simple venture first.
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they have swindled over a million USD for a glue gun which you can assemble at home in 20 minutes. Sure, people can spend their money on whatever they want but it doesn't make it any less ridiculous.
You're making the assumption that everyone in the world is capable of or would even want to assemble a crude version of the same concept at home. Comparing the resourcefulness or ingenuity of an experienced hacker to that of the product's target market (artists, crafters and children) is asinine at best.
It is exactly this kind of overreaction that I was addressing in my original comment. You make these wild assumptions that it's only going to cost them pennies per unit to manufacture and that they're ripping people off. But that's far from reality.
Unless you lie and tell them that it's something other than a sheet of A4 paper, no, you haven't swindled them. You sold a sheet of A4 paper at the price that someone was willing to pay.
I think it's more than just a toy. It's awesome for an ME to prototype with a 3D printer, now imagine the ME simultaneously sketching and prototyping. As the 3Doodler becomes better, I could see it becoming a powerful prototyping tool.
I love the comment translated as, "People around the world .. scratch turnip". Without any knowledge of Russian, I can only assume the word for turnip is used informally to mean head. Can anyone who knows Russian confirm/refute this?
