cool, thanks!

so hopefully they can maintain a sufficient market share to keep a sustainable business going

When the market grows, one can lose market share and still have a sustainable business ;).
You don’t even need a growth in revenue for sustainable businesses either.

If Prusa went under, I still think I would have a better chance of maintaining a functional printer than if e.g. I had a Bambu printer and they went under (although that does perhaps not seem so likely at the moment?).

That seems reasonable. Let’s not forget that Bambu only increased their Firmware-Feature update promise from 2 years (march 2025) to 4 years (march 2027) after community outcry.

btw (I do not know either way) did a bambu printer ever get a firmware feature like Input Shaping, Phase Stepping, Crash Detection etc. as an update? For example does their LIDAR now work on textured plates? (I think it didn’t in the beginning)

I think you have it down pretty well.

It’s not perfectly open Source. Upgradeability can be reasonably expected, it’s not the cheapest, but a very good option.

One more thing that could be considered is if one believes Prusa may die as a company. That would of course reduce the aspect of upgradeability. Personally I believe they are fine, and just growing slower (more organically? Than Bambu for example).

Also Bambu will bring out another printer in a similar timeframe as Core 1 will come out. Depending on priorities it can make sense to wait to compare the offerings.

But I don’t think, given your reasonig you’d be making a mistake if you could buy now.

The cynic in me still thinks SpaceX is doing this without any indication of a FAA certification before November, and are solely doing this to put pressure on the FAA.

Releasing a single image after legal cleared it, is completely different from not doing enough for anyone with a camera renting a helicopter to take snapshots of whatever is left.

from memory I think it’s for example combustion chamber / injector design which is the crux here, none of that is visible, but could be from different angles.