PLA is a lot of things, but soft it's not. It bends less then ABS before breaking. But it is very strong.

Support structures is quite a standard feature, but they leave ugly scars on the models.

(I work at Ultimaker, and we print with PLA 99% of the time, as it doesn't stink and prints nicer)

He bought it as DIY kit, we've been only selling the pre-assembleds for a few weeks. And only a few have shipped so far. We are open source. AGPL with the software, GPL with the electronics, and CC BY-NC with the mechanical drawings.

There is no offical heated bed yet, but people have build their own, as the electronics are prepared for it. Same for dual extrusion.

Disclaimer: I now work for Ultimaker. After developing FOSS software for the Ultimaker they hired me as full-time developer so I could spend more time on making the software even better.

There are more keys in use then just for HTTPS.

If you want to feel this kind of control yourself, try the Kerbal Space Program.

And somehow you assume it's Open Source programmers that make this. As someone involved in the Ultimaker, which is partial OpenSource 3D printer. This 3D printer is developed not by software engineers, but by mechanical engineers. This might sound odd to you, but OpenSource (or OpenDesign) extends beyond software, and thus beyond the software profession.

Because vaccines are not 100% effective. You have 4 groups of people:
1) Immune (because of vaccine or natural)
2) Not immune, but no disease found
3) Not immune, disease carrier, but not sick
4) Not immune, disease carrier, sick

Group 1, Immune people are good, always. However, some people that do get the vaccine will not end up with immunity and thus end up in group 2. However, if these group 2 people come in contact with group 3 or group 4 then they become group 3 or group 4 people. The larger the pool of group 2/3/4 people, the larger the chance a group 2 comes in contact with a group 3 or 4.
(Depending on the disease people can stay in group 3 forever, or for a limited amount of time before moving to group 4)

So, by not begin vaccinated, you increase the chance of getting the disease, and also increase the chance of transmitting that disease to other people.

Same way Wine rips off Windows then.

Of all systems I looked into, I found the gameboy the easiest to understand. The underlying CPU is quite simple. The LCD display is quite simple to understand, there are not a huge amount of complex registers to understand, and it's not that timing critical. (Unlike the NES, which depends a lot on instruction timing)

Just about everything in 3D printed is patented. RepRap people just don't care about it. It's very hard to sue a community. Even the name for the most commonly used 3D printing method is trademarked. (Fused deposition modeling(tm) by Stratasys)

They are. But people always want cheaper and see monopolies where they want. To compare, we are currently in the process of replacing a 50 euro PowerPC chip with an 7 euro ARM chip, which is faster and more capable.

Ultimaker owner here.

I say, depends on what you need, and your batch size. 1000+ items, no contest, use injection molding.
However, need 100 customized items, each different? Or need to be able to modify it on the spot and make a new one?
Yes, producing 100.000.000 HD case holder clips with 3D printers would be silly. But for example artists love these 3D printers, because they can make whatever they imagine. Your mind seems to be limited to "useful" or "technical" use. Try to look beyond that, look at art, (board) games.
The 3D printers also allow for open innovation, you can share physical objects with anyone anywhere in the world. See http://www.thingiverse.com/

Sounds like you have used components from ZCorp machines, which feel a bit like sandstone. Very brittle. These prints feel nothing like prints made in ABS or PLA from a RepRap based machine. And there is quite a lot of difference between the print quality of those machines, depending on the experience of the user.

However, I agree with the fact that if you have components that need to bare a lot of load, you are better off with CNCing it in the proper material.

(Me = Happy Ultimaker owner)

People have done so for Ragnarok Online. Which does not ship with any information about monster stats/quests or anything. They simply reverse engineered, and rebuild it all. (Fun fact, the free servers performed better then the official ones)

Tell me the same for MacOS and Windows please?

Cubify makes a damn good profit on their "cartridges", which seem to cost atleast twice at much as normal PLA filament used in 3D printers.

Also, the 1.8k price doesn't come from raw materials. Less then half of that is material/production costs. The rest is for everything else, "overhead" like paying people for support, keeping stock, sending out replacement parts for DOA bits. "Mass producing" electronics would cut only $50-100 of the price.
Replacing all the quality parts with cheap plastic bits, and have a 100% markup on printer filament, that's how you can cut the price. For normal printers, take a look at the HP-Deskjet line, which are build to last as long as a single cartridge.

Note, I have an Ultimaker, which is another semi-open source 3D printer, I know the people behind Ultimaker. They are great people and stand behind the whole open idea. IMHO it's a better printer then MakerBot is currently selling, but I am biased.