Ok frens, I need to vent yet again, this time with cutting machines!
I bought a cheap open box Cricut Machine as a way to unload smaller works from my Mimaki and because I have heard good things about this brand. So far everything went smoothly: I connected the machine to my PC, plug it in to the wall, downloaded and installed the software and... it is asking me to create an account to use the fucking thing. WHY?!
I have not created anything with it and I am really sure to not give my info to use this thing. And now the more I read about this, I just found that you must have an internet connection to work with it. Again, WHY?! Because you need to "upload" your designs to the damn server of the manufacturer to even "create stuff". Ok, the software has an "offline mode" that you have to enable online because it asks you for your log in credentials, but it is only limited to what you have downloaded, and the option to "create" is unavailable as you really need to upload your designs to work with it. Also, to rub even more salt to the injury, the program is a fucking 400+MB web browser that can only display the Cricut webapp.
This is a clusterfuck, because I fell through a rabbit hole: this brand have always relied on having some kind of DRM on their machines; the older ones had "cartridges" that had pre-loaded designs since they could not be used with a PC, the "middle ones" that had a plug in that you had to install manually to your web browser to access the servers and use the machine to design, and the newer ones that uses a stand alone desktop software that needs to be online to design stuff. Why is this needs to be so anti consumer?! AND HOW IS THIS A POPULAR MACHINE?!
Oh wait, there is some alternative software that tried to give usage to these machines without an internet connection and it was made available for people to buy, and it is called SCAL? Oh, never mind, they lost a suit filled by Cricut. EDIT- Forgot to mention: since the lawsuit, newer versions of the machines can not be made compatible with said software, in the other hand, some of the manufacturers of competing products even bundle it with their machines.
I can use Inkscape? Yeah! But I still need to upload the file to the proprietary software to cut it.
I really want for this trend to end of stuff that asks you for personal data (or a subscription) in order to use what you have already bought. And I hope that there is a collective effort to make an open standard for cutting machines soon, both in software and hardware, because the popular hobbyist choices (Silhouette and Cricut) do this trend of "if you do not give us your data, then you can not use our products even if you have already paid for them".
BTW, Silhouette (the competitor) asks you to create a "free" account to use their machines with decent options and tools available, with a paid option with all the bells and whistles. The software limits itself to the barebones of usability if you do not create a free account, as in you can not export anything outside the program, nor import files created outside of it to be cut, and if you try to print as PDF, it makes everything a flat image that you can not apply an ICC profile to match colors. YOU MUST PAY AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY! At least you can sent your design to the machine and cut it.
Oh, well, tomorrow I will start surfing the seas, maybe I will find something of interest. Worst case scenario, I will make yet another burner account to use the damn machine, or I will try to get my $80 back somehow.
