They tried. And the result is that as they got press and notoriety people took their open plans and made replicas in China and sold them at a cost that massively undercut MB.<p>If they had stayed open source they would have gone under years ago, probably years before Systrays bought them.<p>Open hardware doesn&#x27;t really seem to be a sustainable business, at least not when what you&#x27;re making costs as much as a 3D printer. A brand name isn&#x27;t worth a ton when an identical rip-off product is 40% cheaper and performs the same.