It's not that I think the utility of the general public making things at home isn't attractive. It's that 3D printing, in current forms, will be obsolete by the time it's able to do this. People have been trained, and with Apple even more, to like beautiful things that combine multiple materials, the latest electronic hardware, and great packaging.
To believe this, you'd have to this we've got at least:
- plastic/metal in the same machine - most likely simultaneously unless people are going to assemble it.
- home printable silicon, maybe they could ship it in, but I feel like that defeats the point - they could just ship the device then.
Both of these are really hard material science problems that require tons of research.
The process/materials that 3D printing provide can do none of those things right now - probably not for 10+ years. So, I think all these RepRap clone guys who think, like GNU/Linux, they'll be able to go RepRap -> ? -> Replicator, are a bit naive / hyping it.
They should be creating things that compliment the 3D Printer - like a laser cutter like this:
He said it was a hype bubble. Were computers a hype bubble when they were the size of entire buildings? Or later when you had to assemble them yourself and program them with toggle switches? Fortunately, a few people had the vision and patience to keep pushing the technology forward.
Hype means excessive claims - 3D printing guys right now are claiming the RepRap can do useful things for average people, and that's just not the case. Even the commercial machines, like on Shapeways, only produce tchotchkes.
DEC wasn't wrong about the "cloud" - just way too early and in the wrong environment. RepRap clones are at this point now.
http://www.ttsw.com/SuesClasses/OldComputers/ENIAC.gif