I have an old OKI color laser printer with a setting to choose “don’t print if it won’t look right” or “do the best you can”, so if it runs out of some toner the prints will have a cast to them but still be readable.
It also doesn’t print the Secret Service yellow tracking dots on every page…
Exactly my situation and transition! I kept my last HP though as it’s in perfect physical condition and I had the idea I would make a Youtube video (in HowTo/Office Space style) of me kicking the crap* out of it, driving a truck over it, burning it, etc… Still plan to do so someday. Expect it to go madly viral. Everyone is gonna hate HP now.
Footnote: “Kicking the crap out of it” would leave exactly nothing behind, as the 100% of it is “the crap”.
People still buy HP Printers ? Who knew ?
Too bad there’s no “Freedom Clip” for HP Printers. I got mine when they were still free.
HP is really circling the drain. . .
The big vendors have been trying to move to a “pay per click, we handle the infrastructure” model for years. The problem is that much of the cost is the consumables, which means the moment someone signs a pay per click deal everybody starts printing full colour photos and spreadsheets. Manufacturers have been trying to move to a variable click model (based on coverage) for some time but it is complicated and unreliable, needing software and network infrastructure they don’t want to pay for. The idea that printers could be billed like mobile phones is the sort of thing Apo “hardware, what’s that?” theker would have thought up.
And nowadays with high res tablets I suspect print really is in long term decline. Now screens can exceed the CMYK gamut and people won’t pay for 7-color or wax printers, a major source of revenue is under threat.
People only twist their undies when the jokes betray spitefulness rather than humor. Modus gets a pass because he’s actually funny.
Your situation is not congruent; liquid ink is FAR more expensive than toner and is easier to replace with 3rd-party alternatives.
So much for reading comprehension, eh? “We” as in “HP customers”.
Much hypothetical talk - Little relevant content.
Understood, and that’s why I was very clear to call out consumer grade products in my rant. Business grade is a whole different world.
Do you have any thoughts on Lexmark’s use of DCMA to ensure that Lexmark sells printer cartridges? Will Lexmark continue to behave this way in regard to other similar issues? Would Lexmark defend HP’s decisions here?
Because I feel like you’re getting deep into semantics about ownership instead of defending your company from the actual terrible behavior in the past.
Also a valid interpretation of the data 
Your facts have no place here! This @doctorow post, after all. We only respond to emotion and hyperbole here.
3rd party 3d printer firmwares like Repetier are out there. If you want to fix the problem of HP improperly invoking the DMCA, start writing 2d printer equivalents. After all, you still own the hardware. Replacing the firmware would seem to get to the heart of the problem.
Lexmark will always vigorously defend its intellectual property.
Not the questions I asked, but thanks.
good to know. I will vigorously hinder my money flowing to Lexmark
sheesh, the whole IP system is perverted - it was never meant to enforce the Oil for the Lamps of China business model
Many 3D printers are not proprietary; they use similar hardware, and are designed to be hackable and open by their very nature. Pretty much anybody can build a working 3D printer based on one of the many reference designs out there.
Printers on the other hand are by their nature closed and proprietary. Replacing or modifying the firmware could easily run afoul of the DMCA.
I’m pretty sure, the electronic equivalent of removing a book from a bookshelf and replacing it with another book does not have actual DMCA implications. Removing someone’s IP entirely and not modifying it whatsoever must remain a legal act or we might as well admit that we’re serfs.
To be sure you’re clear of the DMCA you’d somehow need to write a clean-room implementation of a firmware and get it uploaded to the printer (and hope there’s no encrypted paths on the device that would block you from doing this). I just don’t see that as feasible. I’d love to see true “open source” printer as much as anybody but I just don’t see that as being something likely to happen short of someone a big company with deep pockets like Google or Microsoft investing in this space.
One other thing to consider is cheaply made or not, printers are highly complicated and precise devices. A printer needs to pull a single sheet of paper off of a stack, feed it precisely as an independent media delivery mechanism delivers a precisely portioned amount of ink onto the page (and then flips the page through a duplex roller system if so equipped) until finally feeding the finished page. All as quickly as possible. There’s a whole lot of potential ways this can get screwed up as anybody who has cursed a paper jam or ink smear can attest to.
3D printers by comparison are actually pretty simple mechanically.
For me what’s left to print is of the “We deliver this document digitally, but you need to print, sign, and then scan/email//fax/mail it back to us” variety. Also, I still print boarding passes, just in case there is no reception at the airport, or I have a connecting flight in a foreign country (no mobile data and sometimes spotty wifi), or I don’t want to worry about preserving battery life.
