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HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink

arstechnica.com

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Re: HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink

#51

Post by sbaiddn »

I just bought an HP color laser printer this week. This despite knowing HP's shenanigans, but COSTCO has too good a deal and the wife really wanted a good modern printer (we have an HP 4Plus). I admit, it prints beautifully.

In the settings, there's a way to shutoff automatic updates, which I set. But I don't trust post-Corina HP at all and I wanted to firewall it from the internet.

It turns out my D-Link router is vastly more annoying than my printer. Unclear setting menus, no help or manual, and settings that appear to work will block every computer from the internet when the router is reset.

I hate the state of modern consumer electronics.

Re: HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink

#52

Post by louwrentius »

otherme123 wrote: post #45
louwrentius wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a problem not solved by the market, for many reasons, but the most important one is that they all try to do this sooner or later. Shareholder value must increase and be found somewhere. Only government regulations can keep capitalism in check, maybe an unpopular opinion on HN but it hurts startups too because the market is not penetrable for competition.

Some people requires market to work 100% perfect, or else government regulations. For some reason, government regulations are allowed to fail miserably (e.g. 18th amendment). The market solution doesn't have to be your desired solution. Here it seems that some people doesn't care HP practices, so market provides shitty HP practices. They have easy options (bare minimum: don't buy HP), but they actively avoid them, so…

The incentives of capitalism are such that unless there are very strict regulations, it degenerates in what the game of monopoly tries to convey in a visceral manner. A few people will own everything at the cost of everybody else.

Because protection against monopolies is dead in USA, we see exactly this play out.

Re: HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink

#53

Post by louwrentius »

nix23 wrote: post #31
louwrentius wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a problem not solved by the market, for many reasons, but the most important one is that they all try to do this sooner or later. Shareholder value must increase and be found somewhere. Only government regulations can keep capitalism in check, maybe an unpopular opinion on HN but it hurts startups too because the market is not penetrable for competition.

>Only government regulations can keep capitalism in check That's what i mean, a customer is allowed to return a device/car/whatever and get fully refunded if the initial function of a device changes with no technical advantage for the customer. Fines brings the Customer nothing (aka you don't get your money back) and is mostly small change for the company, no need to change anything...but paying full refunds for let'…

The fact that you can return a product in the first place and get a full refund is because of regulations in the first place.

Re: HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink

#54

Post by adontz »

sbaiddn wrote: post #51

I just bought an HP color laser printer this week. This despite knowing HP's shenanigans, but COSTCO has too good a deal and the wife really wanted a good modern printer (we have an HP 4Plus). I admit, it prints beautifully. In the settings, there's a way to shutoff automatic updates, which I set. But I don't trust post-Corina HP at all and I wanted to firewall it from the internet. It turns out my D-Link router is v…

Mikrotiks are cheap and more than required for home. I have one and super happy.

Re: HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink

#55

Post by kwhitefoot »

jacquesm wrote: post #21

Remote update strikes again. Every manufacturer that abuses this mechanism for anything other than actual security updates should be fined in a way that registers on their stock price and if they do it twice they should be fined out of existence.

Just jail the CEO. One day for each printer that they do it to should probably suffice.

Re: HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink

#56

Post by Brian_K_White »

sbaiddn wrote: post #51

I just bought an HP color laser printer this week. This despite knowing HP's shenanigans, but COSTCO has too good a deal and the wife really wanted a good modern printer (we have an HP 4Plus). I admit, it prints beautifully. In the settings, there's a way to shutoff automatic updates, which I set. But I don't trust post-Corina HP at all and I wanted to firewall it from the internet. It turns out my D-Link router is v…

I believe some printers have been caught getting updated from the host pc via the same channel as any other print job. usb, net, doesn't matter.

So you also want to make sure you're using a generic driver and not the current "hp smart" bs drivers they've been pushing for several years. Possibly tough to do on a new enough printer, maybe no generic driver available especially for scanning unless you're using linux.

Amazingly they still offered old-style drivers for my M281fdw for my wife's win10 machine, which cleared up a problem where the printer would crash and reboot every time she sent a print job, meanwhile I had no problem from linux. Ripped out all the hp smart drivers and put in the basic ones and it never did it again, over 2 years so far. But I have to assume that they just don't even offer classic style drivers for new models by now.

Re: HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink

#57

Post by anthk »

I hate printers. I find them "non computing", even if once we were using teletypes. Terminals won, and, later, graphical screens. I never knew how to fix one at hardware level. I like to mangle data either on a term or a screen, I don't want to be the printed press guy. PostScript, PDF and DJVU look well enough onscreen since NeXTStep and much better in any modern GNU/BSD machine even with GV and DjView at 1280x720 on a 10" screen.

Re: HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink

#59

Post by incrudible »

louwrentius wrote: post #28
nix23 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Every manufacturer that abuses this mechanism for anything other than actual security updates should be fined in a way that registers on their stock price and if they do it twice they should be fined out of existence. No fines, just allow the customer to send back the devices and get a full refund plus all costs covered by the manufacturer...it could be so easy. Give back the HP and buy a Brother....that would be ca…

This is a problem not solved by the market, for many reasons, but the most important one is that they all try to do this sooner or later. Shareholder value must increase and be found somewhere. Only government regulations can keep capitalism in check, maybe an unpopular opinion on HN but it hurts startups too because the market is not penetrable for competition.

These printers are sold below cost so that money can be made from the ink. Naturally, this needs some form of DRM. Capitalism offers you plenty of alternatives for printing at the best cost, these printers are actually good deals for people who rarely print.
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