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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

#31

Post by shimonabi »

lchengify wrote: post #23

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…

I bought a Brother HL-L5100DN last week, after seeing several people like you recommending Brother printers on HN.

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

#32

Post by nhchris »

pdonis wrote: post #4
nawgz wrote: post #2

I'm amazed that this hasn't been regulated. Aftermarket commodities being turned into walled gardens based not on physical incompatibility but software checks is obscene. Does the EU have defenses against this kind of behavior? I feel like monopolistic is the wrong word. Creating captive markets?

> I'm amazed that this hasn't been regulated. The best way to regulate it is for people to stop buying HP printers. I haven't bought one for about 20 years.

Thanks to ongoing consolidation of large manufacturing firms, this kind of attitude quickly leads to having nothing to buy. The only solution is collective bargaining in the form of regulation.

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

#33

Post by atahanacar »

pdonis wrote: post #4
nawgz wrote: post #2

I'm amazed that this hasn't been regulated. Aftermarket commodities being turned into walled gardens based not on physical incompatibility but software checks is obscene. Does the EU have defenses against this kind of behavior? I feel like monopolistic is the wrong word. Creating captive markets?

> I'm amazed that this hasn't been regulated. The best way to regulate it is for people to stop buying HP printers. I haven't bought one for about 20 years.

Ideally, and by that I mean the average consumer is well-informed in every product they purchase, yes. But the average customer really doesn't know any better. You can't expect people to know an alternative exists when and unregulated market will always promote marketing over quality.

>I haven't bought one for about 20 years.

Just the fact that you are commenting on HN shows that you aren't the average consumer when it comes to electronics. People tend to overestimate the others' knowledge on topics they themselves are familiar with. A considerable chunk of printer "consumers" don't even know the difference between an inkjet and a laser printer. We can blame them all we want because they aren't "doing their research before spending money", but we don't even know what we are wasting our money on, especially with thing we aren't that knowledgeable about. Everyone values their time differently, so they may or may not research something before purchase depending on what they are buying.

In short, no regulation means leaving sheep alone with wolves.

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

#34

Post by b112 »

readingnews wrote: post #15
rwaksmunski wrote: post #8

17 mentions of Ecotank on the 1st page of comments is a little bit sus. That said it's hard to beat older pre chip Brother laser printers for home use. Can often find a used one for around $50.

I am amazed no one talks about older HPs. I had a 4 with like 5million pages put through it, worked great. I am on a 4300DN now, in my house, got it used. Great printer. I would never buy any of their new stuff. My gosh, HP what happened? You used to make great test equipment. Then great calculators. Then great printers. Now, what? What do you do? Oh, I forgot, you give the customer a printer and hold them hostage. I…

Now, what?

They make decent laptops, but with incredibly sharp, non-rounded edges, which have actually cut* some user's palms.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLaptops/comments/iioylp/just_...

edit:

* Yes I exaggerate here, but it is annoyingly sharp

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

#35

Post by rwaksmunski »

dw_arthur wrote: post #22
rwaksmunski wrote: post #8

17 mentions of Ecotank on the 1st page of comments is a little bit sus. That said it's hard to beat older pre chip Brother laser printers for home use. Can often find a used one for around $50.

Is brother doing the same thing? I have an old brother wireless printer that takes generic cartridges. I'm not looking forward to the day it dies if so.

I'm not brave enough to find out.

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

#36

Post by ClumsyPilot »

Algemarin wrote: post #29

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 want to understand why other people engage in behaviors which are explicitly designed to inconvenience, if not outright harm, other people

These questions should be posed to executives at shareholder meetings.

not cogs in the machine. When was an evil feature ever stopped by rank and file workers?

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

#37

Post by NegativeLatency »

Algemarin wrote: post #29

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…

Haven’t been in the exact situation you describe, but I have worked at some b2b saas companies and when I didn’t like the pricing schemes and the way management was making us squeeze customers I left.

I’m not really in a a financial position to just say fuck it and leave at a moments notice, and it feels a bit different when you’re making Adobe for example pay extra money.

I think we can all imagine the actual reason people in charge do it though: money

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

#38

Post by philwelch »

Algemarin wrote: post #29

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…

They say actions speak louder than words. Well, the corollary to that is that incentives speak louder than rationalizations. What exactly do you want to hear? Would you rather be lied to, have a window into how some poor schmuck lies to himself, or indulge that schmuck’s hand-wringing?

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

#39

Post by esperent »

Algemarin wrote: post #29

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 the company, to make money. That's all there is to it, there's no mystery. It's sad and hard to accept, but it's not hard to understand.

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

#40

Post by kqr2 »

lchengify wrote: post #23

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…

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

If so, that's unfortunate.

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