Talk:RepRapDiscount Smart Controller

RepRap is one of the pioneers of the maker movement and proof that open source can be profitable, however: you cannot call something 'open source' then deliver it in a proprietary format. All the RepRap "open source" files are only accessible thru Altium Designer. Admittedly, they do offer a 'free' 30-day trial, which supposedly only requires registration. The bad news (aside from the fact it is only a 30-day trial) is that the 750Mb+ download has failed on all six (6) of the computers I have tried it on. The error is always the same, as is the 'solution-for-idiots' they recommend:

"Downloaded file xxxxxxxxxx is corrupt. Please disable your antivirus software and select 'retry.'"

Come on. I was downloading software years before the Internet existed. I was Prodigy member 976 back when the 'state-of-the-art' 8088xt I owned with its 10Mb hard drive, monochrome Hercules graphics adapter, and 2400 baud modem ran at 8mhz in turbo mode. I am not about to open my computer up to a process that defies every attempt to monitor it. You cannot even see the name of the process, much less the handles it opens. I download hundreds of Mb of information a day and every bit of it passes thru the AV without a hitch. We all have AV software for a good reason, and anyone who voluntarily shuts it down for an installer deserves to be hacked. If this company can build an installer that is as sophisticated as theirs is, I am quite sure that they are capable of meeting the same quality and level of integrity as everyone else who supplies software. No anomalies register in my AV over the download, which makes it rather obvious that there is some nefarious purpose in store for the gullible people who think an honest vendor would request they disable their AV during install.

But, back to the point: 'Open-source' by definition excludes proprietary formats. Altium Designer is owned by a profit driven company with highly dubious practices who deliberately attempt to place their customers in a vulnerable position for unknown purposes which must be assumed shady at the least. Even if there is no malicious intent, I refuse to shut down my AV for any reason. This makes the source files inaccessible.

The charge is inadvertent hypocrisy resulting in an illegitimate claim of allegiance to the true spirit of the maker community.

Response is of course voluntary, but probably prudent in light of the circumstantial facts at hand.

Cheers,

Schwack