That would be HP as in Hewlett-Packard, and as in the printers, not the computers.
Let me start off by saying that I am a long-time user of Hewlett-Packard printers. I have been hugely satisfied with most of the LaserJets and that’s since the Series II era (except of course the craptastic 5L, and that’s really my fault for going cheap). At the office, an ancient 8000N still handles a large part of the day-to-day work and isn’t sucking out our lives with repair or maintenance; it’s still surprisingly trouble-free.
The multifunction printers in my home and my friends’ homes are another story. When they are working, they do perform their multifunctions pretty well. But the problems that crop up in conjunction with new operating systems are a giant pain if you are not technically inclined, and still a pain if you are. I am not one of those people who think that any company should have to support obsolete hardware or software forever. I do think that the time frame of obsolescence as defined by HP is obscenely short.
I was glad to be spared the problems faced by the earliest adopters of Windows 7. The most recent update for full feature software and drivers seems to have worked to fix the problem of a Vista to Windows 7 upgrade that no longer recognized the PhotoSmart C7250 printer. While the upgrade process identified a number of drivers or applications that would need removal or upgrading, the HP drivers were not listed. Why not?
The worst part is that this is a repeat of the same kinds of problems faced by early adopters of Vista. HP drivers didn’t catch up with the problems until well after Vista’s original release date. I also can’t get on board with the idea of no support for a functioning printer that is slightly aging but not yet ancient, and being forced to buy a new one, just to move to a new operating system. If any company’s tech support tells me I have to buy a new printer to replace one that is less than five years old, you can bet it is not going to be a printer from that company.
I haven’t moved to Windows 7 or Mac Snow Leopard yet, and probably won’t unless I’m replacing hardware. We’ll see whether my own HP PhotoSmart C7280 printer is considered obsolete by then. If so, I’m thinking my next printer will probably be an Epson Artisan. Hey, it might suck, too, but at least I’ll be able to print directly on CDs and DVDs with it.
(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 21 of 28)