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Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

theregister.com

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Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#121

Post by daft_pink »

kjs3 wrote: post #105
TheJoeMan wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been able to print to the newest HP Officejet 8000 series from Windows 7 Embedded by just picking the 6000 series driver from the list. If all you wish to do is “print” there is quite a bit of backwards compatibility in the printer. Other features like scanning may be less so, and the phoning-home ink-pestering notifications aren’t there which seems like a win.

Unless you need something like duplex or multiple paper trays (or as you say scanning), you should be able to pick 'PCL5' or other generic 'HP' driver and it'll work in a pinch. Agreed that an older, well supported printer that doesn't DRM me to death is one less thing to annoy me in life.

It's too late that was a long time ago and I've been a loyal Brother network laser user for years!

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#123

Post by jaclaz »

dylan604 wrote: post #88
turtlebits wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get an old brother laser printer, they are rock solid. Better yet, setup Airprint as well. The novelty of printing from my phone never wears off. (coming from an old head).

I really feel like the brother laser printer recommendations should all come with model numbers as not all brother laser printers are created equal. i have a DCP-L2550DW, and i'm not sure i'd recommend it.

Only as anecdata, I am using Brother (B&W) laser printers since many years in the office and almost all worked and work just fine, but I had some bad experience with DCP-8110DN and MFC-8520DN models:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22083421

It seems like all the models sharing the same printing engine suffer from the same defect (fuser heats a bit too much and the sleeve and roller fail much earlier than expected).

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#124

Post by tonyedgecombe »

darkclouds wrote: post #98
daft_pink wrote: post #6

This is solely because HP is so terrible at updating their drivers for new operating systems. Every HP printer I've owned eventually didn't support the next version of windows. No brother printer I've ever owned has had this problem.

Its a little bit more complicated than that, some drivers can handle direct line printing, some can handled the Window Meta File (WMF) and some can handle Enhanced Meta File (EMF) and now there is the new EMF+. So a trick that some people used was the wrong driver to make some printers behave in unsupported ways for a particular programs. And if a new driver didnt work, using the HP LaserJet 4 driver usually resolved…

>Its a little bit more complicated than that, some drivers can handle direct line printing, some can handled the Window Meta File (WMF) and some can handle Enhanced Meta File (EMF) and now there is the new EMF+.

Most of what you said there is wrong.

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#125

Post by tonyedgecombe »

cpncrunch wrote: post #12

Article says they are just preventing updates to the drivers, not killing them off entirely.

I haven't read the article or the MS release but from experience the big distinction is between inbox drivers and those you download from the vendors website.

Inbox drivers are drivers that come bundled with Windows or more recently automatically downloaded by Windows. The device manufacturers provide the drivers but Microsoft is fairly strict on what they will accept. More recently they have been forcing the manufacturers to switch to V4 (XPS based) if they want their driver included "in the box".

My guess is this is a further tightening of those rules. It indicates the general direction Microsoft wants to move with printer drivers but it's a slow process.

I expect your will be able to continue downloading the existing garbage that nearly every printer manufacturer provides.

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#126

Post by tonyedgecombe »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #122

I'm going to say that I unironically prefer third-party drivers to Microsoft's, primarily because the print quality is better, and secondly because I can customise my print output to no end—page setup, borderless printing, DPI, etc.

I'm the opposite, I always go for the inbox driver and recommend my clients do the same (I develop print management software).

Having said that the main problems I encountered with 3rd part drivers were the additional "utilities" they include. Often the core driver was fine and in some cases you can extract that from the original software and install it directly from the .inf file.

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#127

Post by tonyedgecombe »

leoncaet wrote: post #40

This would be a move on the right direction, but >This framework improves reliability and performance by moving customization from the Win32 framework to the UWP software development framework. I can't trust Microsoft to do anything right anymore.

It's funny isn't it. Win32 is the moat that keeps people on Windows but at the same time it's a huge anchor that they have to drag behind them.

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#128

Post by johannes1234321 »

jawsua wrote: post #83
nostromo wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple seems to have solved this a long time ago. I didn't even set up my printer, I just turned it on, connected it to the network, and all the Macs and iPhones print to it, no problem.

They hired the guy who created CUPS for Linux and BSD, that's how they "solved" it

And then they made sure to follow through and make it work. Hiring people in itself doesn't lead to solutions. You have to give them the tools they need and set priorities acros teams accordingly.

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#129

Post by riffic »

leoncaet wrote: post #40

This would be a move on the right direction, but >This framework improves reliability and performance by moving customization from the Win32 framework to the UWP software development framework. I can't trust Microsoft to do anything right anymore.

anymore?

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#130

Post by riffic »

breadwinner wrote: post #9

Printing at home is so horrible. I have a printer connected to my Wifi router. It changes IP every time I reboot. When it changes IP, Windows can't find it. I can give the printer a static IP but how many people know to do this? Wifi has been around for more than 2 decades. Isn't that enough time to figure out a solution?

i just forward everything to fedex "print and go" (an email address which will handle print jobs) and figure it's cheaper in the long run rather than owning a printer at home
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