Tldr: Did Bambu address the issue, and should I look into updating firmware now.
For context, I got a Bambu Printer just before they released the changes to improve “security” and have been on old firmware since. I was looking at the Bambu Wiki and saw this page that indicated that all of the important LAN functions would be opened up. Unfortunately it requires being on LAN only mode, but I’ve been on LAN only since January because of their changes so it doesn’t effect me much.
I’m not dependent on their cloud features as I am home a substantial amount of the time and I have a server for when I’m not (to use home assistant or wtv). From my point of view the developer mode seems to address my issues, but I wanted to know some other people’s thoughts on the whole controversy and how it was addressed by Bambu.
I got caught the same way with an impulse buy of an A1 Mini/AMS Lite last fall. I’m still running the 1.04 firmware and Orca Slicer on LAN mode for several months now with little issue, (sometimes it drops the LAN connection on start up and needs to be manually reconnected). If you do upgrade to the evil firmware and don’t like it, Bambu currently does let you downgrade to an older firmware and you can go back to a safer firmware.
Most of the Bambu users I have interacted with don’t care because they want to run their printer from the Bambu Handy app. And if you want to use the Handy app, you can’t use LAN mode because you need to be logged in. But I don’t like using my phone for such things anyway.