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HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

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Re: HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

#201

For those of you who haven't already, I highly recommend just biting the bullet and switching from HP to Brother for your home printing needs. I was a HP customer for decades . I had models going back to perforated paper dot-matrix printers. Finally last year I had a down-and-out fight to get my HP to do a basic task, and I bit the bullet and ordered a Brother at the recommendation of my friend. My mfc-l3750cdw Broth…

This is the key answer here, i switched from a HP to a brother everything just works now, and i dont have to download 1gb "driver packages". Hp is the worst company for any hardware needs, all their laptops/dektops sucked so much, back in the day in my electronics shop they where the ones with the worst return/faults rate, by a big margin.

What HP actually shines is their "FreeDOS" (i.e. Linux) workstations. They're like the total opposite of their printers, since they grant the owner a reasonable amount of control and outstanding performance at rock bottom prices. Google buys these things for all their employees, which is all the proof I needed that HP as an OEM isn't doing anything creepy to these workstations before shipping them from the factory. You really can't do better, unless you're willing to shell out at least twice the money.

Re: HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

#202
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31860131 , Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia ? If so, that's unfortunate.

brother both inkjets and laser ones started doing exactly the same as the OP is talking about. I don’t know why people cut them so much slack.

Until manufacturers sell the printers at thick profit it won't work out.

Re: HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

#203
post #186

How does this work with anti competition? The Sherman Antitrust Act would prohibit printer manufacturers from engaging in anti-competitive practices such as locking out third-party printer cartridges. Under the law, monopolistic or anti-competitive practices are illegal and may be subject to government enforcement. To quote the sherman act "Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy,…

Captured FTC regulators likely won't do anything.

Re: HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

#204

For those of you who haven't already, I highly recommend just biting the bullet and switching from HP to Brother for your home printing needs. I was a HP customer for decades . I had models going back to perforated paper dot-matrix printers. Finally last year I had a down-and-out fight to get my HP to do a basic task, and I bit the bullet and ordered a Brother at the recommendation of my friend. My mfc-l3750cdw Broth…

Their label printers also don't do DRM like now Dymo does.

The scum even introduced drm-checking printers under same model name and number so the previous good reviews stay

Re: HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

#205
I have an HP colour laser printer MFP just small home one. HP changed something a few years ago forcing people to log in to use their printer. I can't recall what happened but I was able to find a workaround or HP changed or cancelled that demand.

I think the problem as stated in comments is money obviously. But it's the loss of the home market. The "desktop publishing" craze is gone and now it's older people who have printers. That's a big loss of revenue. Printers at home seem to be alien to anyone under the age of 40.

Re: HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

#206

What I find notable whenever something like this is in the news, is that these user-hostile features don't just manifest through abiogenesis, or spontaneous generation. User-hostile features are created by people. Just once, I would like to see an AMA by someone who was directly involved in creating a user-hostile feature - whether it's locking down printers or any of the countless other examples that come up on a we…

I had an experience in another industry similar to what printers are doing. We used to use standard, easy-to-source-from-3rd-party 6-port valves on one of our instruments. Customers loved it, since the valve would need servicing now and then with replacement parts but the company president only saw lost recurring service and support revenue. To complement that perception, the VP Engineering decided "our systems shoul…

So many people willing working jobs that explicitly make the world a worse place to live and we wonder why everything is going to shit.

Re: HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

#207

What I find notable whenever something like this is in the news, is that these user-hostile features don't just manifest through abiogenesis, or spontaneous generation. User-hostile features are created by people. Just once, I would like to see an AMA by someone who was directly involved in creating a user-hostile feature - whether it's locking down printers or any of the countless other examples that come up on a we…

> Just once, I would like to see an AMA by someone who was directly involved in creating a user-hostile feature We don't need an AMA, we already know the answer. Money. The company exists to make money. The fact that it also creates printers is a side effect, not its primary purpose. Once you look at it in this way, there's nothing confusing about user hostile features. They exist to further the primary purpose of th…

> The company exists to make money. The fact that it also creates printers is a side effect, not its primary purpose.

And what is astounding is that we, as a society, have accepted this backwards rationale.

The only reason we should allow companies to exist is to serve the societal interests, and making the money should be the side effect.

Re: HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

#208

For those of you who haven't already, I highly recommend just biting the bullet and switching from HP to Brother for your home printing needs. I was a HP customer for decades . I had models going back to perforated paper dot-matrix printers. Finally last year I had a down-and-out fight to get my HP to do a basic task, and I bit the bullet and ordered a Brother at the recommendation of my friend. My mfc-l3750cdw Broth…

Does this open up the space for a "framework laptop" like company to open up? For "open" printers? If yes, what other product categories is this applicable?

Absolutely not because printer patents will kill you.

There are a handful of companies that hold all the patents necessary to build a printer. If you try to build one from scratch "taking inspiration" from consumer ones you will be sued into oblivion

Re: HP have updated their printers to ban ‘non-HP’ cartridges

#210
This is terrible but next time I buy a printer it’ll probably just be the cheapest laser again since I barely get through a couple of reams of paper a decade.

I currently have a cheap Dell I bought for $80 years ago. I was able to put in a new off brand toner cartridge recently but the driver only barely works on a modern Mac and I expect it will stop working completely in a major version or two.

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