Probably the best known brand of cutter comes from Cricut, and that company has dropped a bombshell in the form of an update to the web-based design software that leaves their now very annoyed users with a monthly upload limit of 20 new designs unless they sign up for a Cricut Access Plan that costs $9.99 on monthly payments. Crafters were using CNC cutting machines well before we were, and while some may deride them when used for sparkly greeting cards sold on Etsy, they can be an extremely useful tool for much more than that.
But there’s another set of people who were way ahead of us, and they’re a rather unexpected one, too. In our community we like to think of ourselves as pioneers in the field of domestic CNC machinery, with our cheap 3D printers.
UPDATE #2 (3/21/21): In the wake of this controversy, Cricut have announced that they will not move forward with the upload limit for customers who are not paying subscribers. They clarified that machines are not deactivated upon resale, but the new owner will need to set up their own online account.
UPDATE: Hackaday was contacted by a PR company claiming to represent Cricut.
