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I don't think there's any correlation between the use of 2D and 3D printers - they don't have much in common other than the name. I expect the use of 2D printers to be declining as more and more things are done online, but custom fabrication of objects is another matter altogether.

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Well they both are things you might just order instead or buying the machine. I don't own a 2D or 3D printer, but I use services for both.

SupremumLimit is right. 2D and 3D printers are fundamentally different things. The analogies you can draw are pretty shallow. As someone that has a 3D printer, I feel this way, but at this moment, I can't quite put my finger on why, other than the things you print out with a 3D printers can be used to solve your problems, whereas pages printed on a 2D printer is used to transfer or hold information.

I think you just love your 3D printer - which is totally cool, but I actually think the comparison is quite apt.

There's a lot of people who love printing photos, flyers, etc. at the click of the mouse. We shouldn't demean that - there's a lot of real uses for 2D printing.

The own/rent/outsource question is a big part of the future of digital fabrication. See my article in MAKE:

http://makezine.com/2013/06/24/what-is-the-new-industrial-re...

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