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Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

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Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#191

Post by s0l1dsnak3123 »

scarface74 wrote: post #183
s0l1dsnak3123 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once again the "market" is abusing everyone in the pursuit of endless economic growth. Our economic system forces successful businesses into enemies of the consumer once they can't keep momentum. Coupled with the concentrating monopolisation of the economy, this creates a phenomenon where helpless consumers are held at ransom: the ultimatum being that they either continue to be exploited in ever more devious ways, or…

> Coupled with the concentrating monopolisation of the economy, There is no “monopoly” in the printer industry and it’s definitely not holding the economy “hostage”. We do not need the government to break up “Big Printer”.

Capitalism optimises for monopolies. Everyone agrees on this - this is why we have antitrust mechanisms. Unfortunately, they tend to facilitate and reinforce the problem instead of combat it.

My comment is a general one on markets at large, hyper-focusing on the printer market is only valid as a rhetorical device.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#192

Post by s0l1dsnak3123 »

bostonsre wrote: post #188
s0l1dsnak3123 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is a general one - the printer market is doing exactly what all elastic markets do.

It's what they do if there is not a healthy market with lots of innovation and competition. It is a dieing (of maybe stagnant and on the decline) market where the few remaining are squeezing out the last remaining drops of revenue.

Competition isn't allowed to flourish when the market leaders use their runaway profits to buy up any and all possible contenders. My point is that this exact process can be seen across our economy, because anti-competitive behaviour is inherent to the economic system we live in. This is not controversial.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#193

Post by blitz_skull »

s0l1dsnak3123 wrote: post #139
blitz_skull wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh... Pretty sure the printer industry is holding literally no one hostage. As mentioned in several comments—this industry is dead.

My point is a general one - the printer market is doing exactly what all elastic markets do.

Well, without hyper-focusing on printers, I fail to see the call to action here. I don't understand why "this is not an economy that works for ordinary people".

I consider myself pretty ordinary and my life is impacted almost 0 by the forces of elastic markets.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#194

Post by LBJsPNS »

gpvos wrote: post #177
mariuolo wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The toner lasts F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Now you know why the manufacturer wants to change things.

They shouldn't. Just make a good product and ask a price for both printer and toner that properly covers costs and allows you to turn a profit.

And then get driven into the ground in a market that competes on up front cost pretty much exclusively.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#195

Post by akagusu »

Almost 40 years ago RMS, the guy people love to hate, created the Free/Libre software movement and a proprietary printer firmware was one of his motivations.

For 40 years this guy has been talking about the perils of proprietary software and people gave a shit to him.

Today people not only strongly defend proprietary software, but they think he is a moron, and even free/libre software activists think proprietary firmwares are okay as long their hardware works as expected.

Of course this is okay until their hardware stops to work as intended and you are locked out because the proprietary firmware, which usually is what happens.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#197

Post by myself248 »

Oh, this is bad. Brother has always, like for DECADES, been the non-shitty option.

Had ipv6 before anyone else.

Good Linux support, even for the scanners on their MFCs.

Agnostic about third-party toner.

This new firmware demolishes twenty years of goodwill.

I was just looking at a new printer, and likely to replace my old Brother B&W MFC and Samsung color laser, with a new Brother color laser MFC, but it looks like I'll see how long I can string the old ones along.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#198

Post by upofadown »

mrjin wrote: post #114

We need laws to prevent such malicious practices. Currently most if not all printer vendors sell printers at loss hoping to claw it back by sell consumables at extremely high prices. Given such background, vendors have more than enough motivation to undermine 3rd party consumables if not totally lock them out.

Pretty sure that most countries have laws to prevent such practices...

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#199

Post by s0l1dsnak3123 »

blitz_skull wrote: post #193
s0l1dsnak3123 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is a general one - the printer market is doing exactly what all elastic markets do.

Well, without hyper-focusing on printers, I fail to see the call to action here. I don't understand why "this is not an economy that works for ordinary people". I consider myself pretty ordinary and my life is impacted almost 0 by the forces of elastic markets.

Inequality is getting worse and worse across the west:

https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk

Businesses are choosing to use their profits to perform stock buybacks instead of innovating or improving standards for their workers:

https://hbr.org/2020/01/why-stock-buybacks-are-dangerous-for...

Meanwhile the cost of living is going through the roof:

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-...

And pay is not catching up, further aggravated by inflation:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1272447/uk-wage-growth-v...

In the UK we also have a 54% increase in the residential cost of energy (within the context of extreme profiteering from energy manufacturers):

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/03/business/energy-prices-uk...

And 9.1% inflation:

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/uk-inflation-rate-hits-...

This is true across the world. I'm not sure what your life is like, but it sure as hell doesn't match the lived experience of many.

Re: Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia

#200

Post by NoSorryCannot »

hyperdimension wrote: post #120
dgl wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly only applies to these high end ones; I got a cheap Epson one and found out after moving it to another country, that the cartridges are indeed vendor+region locked.

Region locked ink?! That's a special kind of stupid.

They do it for the same reason as anything else: to charge different prices in different parts of the world and still stymie the gray market.
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