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This seems like it could be bad news - they might be trying to make some sort of proprietary 'postscript for 3-D' to lock down the whole industry. Though I'm guessing my worry is probably unfounded.

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That's the first thing that came to mind for me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish

PostScript is a well-defined, well-documented programming language. Introducing a new layer for 3D printing would be very cool, but in the end, G-code is the "native" language for most of the hobby (and maybe other) 3D printers out there.

I didn't see any reference to G-code in the article. I think the worry is that they will introduce a closed, proprietary standard in an attempt to build their platform.

I'm a bit conflicted. On the one hand, G-code is very compatible with the open source ethos, but on the other it's a very old standard that was originally intended for plotters. I'd love to see something better replace it that can say, use bezier curves.

This. G-code is more like Logo than PostScript. Something based on meshes and computational-computed surfaces (e.g. bezier curves) would work better. In fact, we could get most of the way there with OpenGL/DirectX at a low-level (meshes to specify a few vertex positions, hull shaders to to extrapolate additional vertices based on whatever algorithm you want).

OpenSCAD: http://openscad.org/

Its about as close to being a "3D Postscript" as you could find these days ..

Indeed - my cynical first thought was "so this is how they're going to implement DRM for 3D printers"…

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