Comment on Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

Chickenstalker@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

• topinambour_rex@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  If you can print without installing hp software, yes.

  I been amazed by epson. Bought an ecotank, with scanner and use it through the network. I didnt had to install epson software for use either the printer or the scanner.

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  • Zink@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Doesn’t that mean they just need to move their bullshit into the printer firmware rather than in their driver bloat software?

    Or if they decide not to use the standard drivers and keep things customer-hostile, maybe their printer won’t work at all without their own software package.

    I’m in the Brother laser printer gang, so I don’t know how egregious they are with this stuff already.

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    • topinambour_rex@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Depend which bullshit you mean. If you mean the no ink no scan, yes they can move it to the printer. If you mean the you stop the subscription, we disable your cartridge even if they aren’t empty, it will be difficult.

      If the user uses usb, the printer will face the microsoft owned driver. If you uses it through lan, it will be able to communicate with HP’s servers.

      Then I guess, it could be done through usb too, like sending settings to the printer.

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      • Zink@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Maybe they could require a wifi connection back to the mothership before the printer itself will do any printing. Or just say fuck it and ship their printers with wifi/ethernet only.

        Hopefully the consumer market wouldn’t let them get away with that crap, but on a technical level I have to think there are so many ways to mess with it. Just look at all the other enshittification going on around us.

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  • echo64@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    ? there’s nothing about this that would stop the hp no ink no scan thing. the drivers just talk to the printer/scanner, the scanner can still refuse to do things if it wants to.

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    • topinambour_rex@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      For this they must access the network, and internet directly. So if you use it through USB, it won’t work, as the software communicates with the printer through the driver.

      If you access to it through wifi/ethernet, the printer can communicate directly with HP’s servers and do their shit.

      What they could do, is to make wifi/ethernet connection mandatory, even if you use usb.

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      • echo64@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I’m not sure what you think is happening here, the outrage is because HP printers won’t scan if they have no ink, there is no network connection going on here.

        Since mid-2022, HP has been fighting a class-action lawsuit alleging that certain all-in-one printer models won’t scan or fax without ink and that HP doesn’t properly disclose this to shoppers. On January 13, 2023, the complaint was dismissed but allowed to be amended (you can view the amended complaint here: PDF), and on August 10, a Northern District of California judge dismissed HP’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint PDF.

        HP Envy 6455e and HP Deskjet 2655 purchasers Gary Freund and Wayne McMath filed the complaint, which states that HP printers are designed to enter an error state when low or out of ink, preventing usage until the installment of a new ink cartridge. The plaintiffs are also peeved that HP marketing and advertising doesn’t clearly disclose this, the complaint says. The complaint also notes that an HP support agent has said that HP printers are “designed in such a way that with the empty cartridge or without the cartridge the printer will not function.”

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  • vector_zero@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    They’ll just bake that logic into the printer directly

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    • topinambour_rex@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Yes, but for be able to turn off the printing function if you stop the subscription, they need to have the printer communicates with their server. If the user uses USB it won’t be able to. But they can make an Internet connection mandatory either WiFi or ethernet even if you use USB.

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• AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  No.

  1. According to the article, it’s just removing them from Windows Update. Microsoft doesn’t want the hassle. Vendors could still make you use them

  2. I like the description of a new printing standard Microsoft will directly support, but since it’s owned by the vendors, they can probably require customer-hostile “features”

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• Lmaydev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  No that won’t be done by the pc software most likely.

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