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L.D. Best said:
> Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!
>
> You may not like it ...
>
> ewalt@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> <snip>
>> No, that's not it. They are refusing to supply drivers for the new
>> version of Windows (Vista) that will allow people to use their old
>> printers with the new OS.
>>
>> If your printer is older than two years there will no new drivers
>> for Vista, except whatever work-arounds people can come up with.
>
> ... but for HP this approach makes *very* good economic and liability
> sense.
HP is a fine company and they are making a ton of money with wonderful
printers, computers, servers.
Yep, the jargon of the computer world has long ago outstriped my ability
to comprehend. And new stuff only works with new stuff. People can no
longer assume compatibility and need to look before they leap and consider
the whole picture.
And, for God sakes, ask more questions before you buy anything.
>
> HP printers are, in and of themselves, microprocessors on a major level.
> The Office Jet I have probably is more powerful (and has an infinitely
> larger amount of RAM) than my 286 and probably my 386.
>
> With Flash memory that could easily be fried, they cannot afford to risk
> trashing older printers in an effort to make them compatible with Vista
> ... nor can they guarantee that even their best efforts could produce a
> rewrite which would make a newer Vista-compat printer function with XP,
> let alone anything earlier than that.
>
No, it's the other way around. "Old" printer and new, Vista computer/
> People who buy VISTA have proven that they are willing to put out the
> bucks for new hardware; they would be expected to put out the bucks for
> Vista-compat peripherals too.
Yep, they are going to have to shell out the bucks. It's a whole new
ballgame.
>
> HP has always been very honest about OS requirements for its hardware.
> If someone, for some reason, wants to use the newest printer on an old
> OS HP cannot -- and should not -- be held responsible if things don't
> work, nor should they be expected to provide support to someone who is
> trying to mix apples with oranges and call it strawberry pie.
>
No, I'm not blaming HP. I'm blaming Microsoft and the "big box"
store where my friend bought his Vista computer and my friend himself
for not looking before he leaped. He just thought he could use use his
"old" printer with his new computer. He thought Windows was Windows.
His "old" printer is maybe four years old and functions perfectly. HP
makes wonderful printers. It's a shame that my friend can't use his
anymore.
It's hard for me to see something that look brandnew as obsolete. So
I've got tons of stuff that's fit only for the dumpster that still
works just fine.
But, two years is an awful short life span.
Sam Ewalt
> And here we thought that the discrepancies of English cross-cultural
> communications were bad ... It seems now that jargon has reached the
> point of technical terms meaning different things to different people.
Well, if they keep on "improving" things, eventually nothing will
work and nobody will even be able to say what's wrong.
>
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