Xerox, with their flat 2-d copying revolutionized a generation and still holds many patents. Will we be soon be saying the same as rectangular boxes begin appearing at Libraries and Universities. I believe that with actual objects many patents would be a lot less tangible. Just the ability to eventually be able to scale microscopic items to a size that doesn't take a 100 page technical paper to explain could be a great benefit to the sciences as a whole. Time lapse film would take on a greater importance because these images could be transferred to 3-d models. On the plus side there isn't a lot of red tape to slow down these advancements which could slow down this process in the age of information. The first shots have been fired though as Makerbot was recently acquired by Stratys for a cool sum of money. The industry is definitely ready to take off but in which direction?
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