

Web 3.D - The Market Potential of "Bits & Atoms" - replicatorblog
http://replicatorinc.com/blog/2010/03/web-3-d-some-numbers-behind-bits-and-atoms/

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acgourley
Starting to trudge into this world myself, and I can definitely understand why
there isn't a big rush of hackers into the production of physical goods. There
are heaps of boring details to manage, supply issues to research, domain
knowledge to learn, etc.

There is nothing intrinsically difficult about creating physical products, but
you can liken to working with a very un-expressive programming language.
You're spending a lot of time making very little progress, and it's very
expensive to create prototypes as you go.

So it's slow. You don't get the same continual ego boost of seeing what you
are building. And you can't hack it up over the weekend to the applause of
your peers.

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jared314
I am fascinated by the promise of 3D printing/manufacturing, but have yet to
find a good use to justify the much higher cost.

