I entirely agree that they could have made it open source, or so that it could (even optionally) use Artisan. I am forced to conclude that not doing so wasn’t accidental, which is partly what makes me nervous about the whi=ole app thing. It means that in buying in, I set myself up as a hostage to fortune if, either by design or through no ill intent, the company goes or stops supporting it.
I don’t know that I’d trust any assurance that it will be made open source if the compoany ever ceses trading, because I suspect if it were my company and it ceased trading, that would be about the millionth thing on my mind as a priority by that point.
I also agree that with an ‘out’, either in an app sufficiently fully functional to allow the roaster to remain fully functional if the company goes down, I almost certainly would have bought too, while that discount was apparently still on. But as things stand, it’s something of a £700 gamble.
I also agree with a comment made earlier, and I too would feel a bit like i was running before I can walk. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have entertained even thinking about getting into roasting any time remotely soon. It’s just my circumstances that nhad me thinking about it, largely because of that discount. It’s a lot extra to pay, had I decided to wait a couple of weeks and buy after Christmas, so I was rather in an “either right now, or not for quite a while, if at all” mindset.
My stance, now that that deal has either gone, or I know might not have been there had I tried to use it, is it has probably done me a favour because, really, it is just far too soon. I ought to at least get the training wheels off before I start training for the Coffee Olympics. Roaster = on back burner. For now.
3D printer, on the other hand …. :)