Of course there's real gain! Imagine small colleges, hacker spaces, and even more individuals being able to afford these things. That's a MASSIVE gain. Increasing access to this kind of product is almost, if not more, important than improving the actual product.
Imagine a world in which there had never been a computing race to the bottom. Maybe every computer would be a supercomputer, sure, but then none of us would be able to afford our own computer in our own homes!
But even in computing, the race to the bottom produced better chips. Competition forced the companies to produce cheaper and cheaper chips, while still trying to make better ones.
The TangiBot isn't a competitor to the MakerBot in the traditional sense of the word. There wasn't a parallel design process. Matt Strong has not attempted to even improve the design of the MakerBot. At best, it's a copy or the MakerBot, only cheaper. At worst, it's just a cheap knockoff.
Of course there's real gain! Imagine small colleges, hacker spaces, and even more individuals being able to afford these things. That's a MASSIVE gain. Increasing access to this kind of product is almost, if not more, important than improving the actual product.
Imagine a world in which there had never been a computing race to the bottom. Maybe every computer would be a supercomputer, sure, but then none of us would be able to afford our own computer in our own homes!