So, the other day we had a big snow storm and power failures all around town (it was the day of the Chamber Trade Show, so I remember it well). Many computers in town were adversely affected. Some, sadly, did not make it. I was asked to take a look at an somewhat ancient eMachine PC (Windows XP, 1G mem, and 160G harddrive).
The motherboard turned out to be damaged, as evidenced by a leaking onboard capacitor and the fact that it consistently refused to boot up, even with temporary replacement power supplies, memory, hard drives, etc. So tmalss (to make a long story short) a new computer was needed. The owner bought a new HP Win8 system from his favorite box store in the big city. I then was asked to copy his old data files over and set it up for him. Glad to do it.
The system install went fine, until I tried to install the printer that had worked fine for him with his old computer. Nothing wrong with the printer. It just has no drivers available yet for Windows 8. Hmmm. HP computer. HP LaserJet Printer (P1505). But with Win8 .. no love. The HP website indicates they are 'working on a new driver for spring 2013'. Isn't that just about right now? Chatted online with a not so informed HP rep. All new printers should work with Win8, she claimed. What about this one? Oh, that was news to her. What printers do work with Win8? No real response (All new printers should work with Win8).
Ran into a similar problem a few months back with a Macbook Pro that could not print to HP Color Laser (designated Windows only). Worked fine with Win7 and after some arm wrestling, with Win8. But no drivers available for Macs. How unfortunate. This client now works on her Mac laptop, saves to PDF, and prints the copied PDF from her new Win8 computer.
So, what is the Strange Truth? Just that there is very little remaining incentive for printer manufacturers to update their drivers. They already have our money, and are much better off just playing dumb or giving lip service and expecting everyone to go out and buy a new piece of printer hardware? Perhaps. Interestingly, these printers both play nice when Linux is talking to them. Yay for the Open Source Team! Whose job is it to make that printer print? IMHO, the operating system designer needs to work together with the various hardware manufacturers to make their systems compatible with for all legacy as well as with new hardware. Work together with each other, instead of pointing fingers back at each other. I must state here, that HP traditionally has a very good reputation for it's efforts to provide drivers, even to Linux.
Kudos to Linux and HP for trying. Bad fish smell to some of you others.
The motherboard turned out to be damaged, as evidenced by a leaking onboard capacitor and the fact that it consistently refused to boot up, even with temporary replacement power supplies, memory, hard drives, etc. So tmalss (to make a long story short) a new computer was needed. The owner bought a new HP Win8 system from his favorite box store in the big city. I then was asked to copy his old data files over and set it up for him. Glad to do it.
The system install went fine, until I tried to install the printer that had worked fine for him with his old computer. Nothing wrong with the printer. It just has no drivers available yet for Windows 8. Hmmm. HP computer. HP LaserJet Printer (P1505). But with Win8 .. no love. The HP website indicates they are 'working on a new driver for spring 2013'. Isn't that just about right now? Chatted online with a not so informed HP rep. All new printers should work with Win8, she claimed. What about this one? Oh, that was news to her. What printers do work with Win8? No real response (All new printers should work with Win8).
Ran into a similar problem a few months back with a Macbook Pro that could not print to HP Color Laser (designated Windows only). Worked fine with Win7 and after some arm wrestling, with Win8. But no drivers available for Macs. How unfortunate. This client now works on her Mac laptop, saves to PDF, and prints the copied PDF from her new Win8 computer.
So, what is the Strange Truth? Just that there is very little remaining incentive for printer manufacturers to update their drivers. They already have our money, and are much better off just playing dumb or giving lip service and expecting everyone to go out and buy a new piece of printer hardware? Perhaps. Interestingly, these printers both play nice when Linux is talking to them. Yay for the Open Source Team! Whose job is it to make that printer print? IMHO, the operating system designer needs to work together with the various hardware manufacturers to make their systems compatible with for all legacy as well as with new hardware. Work together with each other, instead of pointing fingers back at each other. I must state here, that HP traditionally has a very good reputation for it's efforts to provide drivers, even to Linux.
Kudos to Linux and HP for trying. Bad fish smell to some of you others.
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