Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (
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Miss Perspicacia Tick wrote:
> Stéphane Lucet wrote:
>
>>Thanks for your lessons of history, but when I buy a printer I buy
>>more that a printer I buy a solution to print and I buy this as long
>>as it is operationnel to print.
>>
>>If you think that after six year I have to change the printer, may be
>>you had better to look for a job at the mircosoft corporation.
>>
>>It doesn't work. Oh sorry buy the new version, it is better.
>
>
> Oh wake up and smell the Java! Do you really think that it's economically
> viable for Epson to continue to support every printer they've ever
> produced?! They have produced 1000s of printers - if they had to support
> every single one of them indefinitely then there would be no money for
> research and development into new technologies!
>
I don't think it is unreasonable for any printer company to continue to
support their older printers via drivers as new OSs come along. There
is a real problem with perfectly serviceable product becoming obsolete
and useless because the company doesn't support it via drivers. It is
becoming a major environmental issue and the result may simply be
products being taxed to help pay for the lost resources and landfill
space. The cost to port drivers to new OSs is not that vast, since the
commands to the printer tend to be the same for a large group of
printers, writing a new driver for one can often produce the structure
for many others. I would like to see an agreement between printer
companies and OS producers that a new printer will be supported with
drivers for minimally 6-8 years.
> You are either very naive or very stupid - and I know which my money's on!
>
You really can't help yourself, can you. Seems like you are unable to
offer an opinion or help without having to toss a few insults in.
> I have an Epson Stylus Color (yes, the original) in the loft. Maybe I should
> be whining that Epson has discontinued support for that and it won't run
> like it used to under 3.1!
>
The original Stylus Color (I maintain one for a friend), although slow
by today's standards, is a completely serviceable printer with 720 x 720
dpi. It was by no means inexpensive (Here in Canada it was $1000 new)
and it was built to last, and so, yes, considering the profit margin on
printers back then, both for the retailer and manufacturer, I don't
think it is unreasonable for it to be supported today. The printer is
only about 8 years old, it was the very first Epson color printer and it
still does as good a job as ever.
> *SIGH*
>
Just because the industry has resolved to obsolesce perfectly good
product doesn't make it a good idea, nor does it make people who believe
that support should be available are either naive or stupid. What's
"stupid" is forcing us to waste materials, technology and resources
unnecessarily, when things are still fully functional and only require a
small software driver to continue being used.
Art
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