Curious if anyone here has experience with German RepRAP GmbH. I asked, since their marketing throws the words “RepRap” and “open source” around, if the plans and BOMs for the Protos X400 were available anywhere.
I got a reply that “we use a lot of open source components like the electronics, and you will get the “blueprints” by purchasing a kit. All parts relying on the GPL are freely available at http://reprap.org. As soon as the following Version wil be announced, we will publish the parts for personal use.”
My reaction is that one shouldn’t a) use the word RepRap in your company name if you don’t subscribe to RepRap philosophy or b) throw around the term open source in your marketing of a closed source product.
At the same time, I understand trying to recoup development costs by holding a design release until after successful crowd funding, or by issuing a non-commercial GPL.
Thoughts?
https://www.germanreprap.com/en/aboutus
yup uncool
Jelle Boomstra, no, it’s more like, the recipe is free but if you want the beer now, buy it from us. The closest thing to “source code” for hardware are plans and Bills of Materials. I’d never ask for free beer, no such thing. 
But if a company calls themselves The Free Beer Recipe Brewing Co and says “we made this beer using recipes shared freely by a community of like minded individuals” in their marketing, but then refuses to actually share their recipe, people like me will talk negatively about them on social media sites.
Ignoring the encroachment of non-open hardware companies on the market that an open community has spawned is suicidal. Encouraging them to behave better makes more sense to me. I was just asking if anyone here knew them or more about them than I do. Apparently not.