Sorry to have contributed to the grumbling undertone present in this thread.Didn't mean to start a firestorm...personally very happy with Vectric so far for my needs
I think part of the angst is simply Shop-Botters who bought into a good machine, great company, fantastic community, but are now seeing a series of cracks appearing in the foundation.
Referring to Thermwood dropping e-cabinets link earlier this year, stagnation in development of the large scale machines/unmitigated communications errors, as cited in several recent threads. Just feels like the Vectric shift is yet another fissure opening up in the foundation. No single event is a seismic issue, but from a distance, there are lots of significant keys being re-cut, replaced, or lost completely from the perspective of an experienced Shop Botter.
Not concerned as much about Vectric for it's internal ownership change, as much as the dropping of the ShopBot "partnership" and the resultant monetary surprises some have experienced. As usual, it's most likely nothing to take personal, but does contribute to a general sense of abandonment surrounding the ShopBot brand as of late, leaving many of us veteran users with a mildly nervous sense of "why?" and "what's next?"...
I'm here and running strong as a business, thanks to ShopBot, Vectric and Sketchup.
Going forward, it would serve us well to try and pull ourselves out of this "funk" and see enthusiasm, productivity and evolution seeping back into our discussions here as we enter the new year.
A little good news from the "mothership" wouldn't hurt either....
jeff