Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

Like a lot of people, I think that the old Visioneer VX, MX and HP 4s line
of sheet-fed scanners were just plain wonderful for getting a sheet of paper
scanned into your PC. Along with the PaperPort software that came up
automatically when you inserted a sheet of paper and that did an
auto-straighten, they were just slicker than snot. I mean just wonderful. I
could amaze people who were watching how easy it was to scan a sheet into a
PC for the first time. Every secretary wanted one. They were only B/W and
grayscale, but for documents, who cared?

So everything was just peachy until Windows XP came along and we all did our
upgrades. Naturally, these old scanners with Win98 drivers would not work
with XP. And the clowns (yes they ARE clowns) at Visioneer chose not to
write XP drivers. No, they want to sell you their new "Strobe" series of
scanners that (from what I've read on the Usenet) only really work reliably
with XP if you get up to their XP 200 model that costs $300. Yeah, right.

Now I understand them not being real interested in providing free drivers
for the Vx/Mx scanners for XP. They (foolishly) stopped making those
scanners long ago. However, I would be perfectly happy to pay them $50 for
an XP driver (that worked). I'm sure a lot of people would. They could sell
a bunch of them. People actually keep Win98 loaded on their XP boxes and
dual boot just so they can use their old Mx/Vx scanners!

I bought an HP v40xi all-in-one printer that has a sheet scanner built in,
but it is nowhere near as reliable or quick as my old Vx. Every time I use
it to scan, I am reminded of how very much better my Vx was.

One thing for sure, I am NEVER going to buy a Visioneer product after this
irresponsible/dumb behavior they have displayed.

End of vent.



--

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet, humorist, chemist,
Visual Basic programmer)