Hey Guys!
Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it. Let me quickly address 2 things:
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we were originally using Kicad, but as others have pointed out, its not very easy to use and is a PITA. it was actually getting in the way of doing Real Work, so we ditched it. we periodically revisit it, and once it (or geda) gets to the point of being better then EAGLE, we'll definitely switch back! of course if another alternative comes along, we'll switch to that as well (fritzing...?) finally, EAGLE is free for most purposes unless you're using it to make money, in which case you can buy a $49 license (or go the grey route and use the gerber files we put up on sourceforge)
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on the pricing, all the kits are made/sold by the RRRF which is a not-for-profit foundation. while we do charge a markup on the stuff we sell, 100% of the proceeds go back into the foundation and fund the research on the next generation of the RepRap technology. of course if you're still not satisfied, its 100% open source and you are more than welcome to either buy the parts yourself, or get the boards made yourself, or even make kits and sell them. fine by us! our only stipulation is that if you make changes, you give them back to the community =)
oops... i though it was going to be short 