Epson Treats Mac Users Like Second-Class Citizens?

Robert Jung writes "Is Epson waging a coordinated discrimination effort against Mac users? MacSlash reports that Epson is refusing to honor their $50 rebate coupon if the printer was purchased at an Apple retail store, and Daily Mac notes that if you want Mac OS X drivers for Epson scanners, you must fill out a form, fork over $4, and wait for the mail to arrive -- while Windows users are able to download XP drivers for free." Apparently, Mac OS (Classic) users can also download the drivers for free. Maybe they assume Mac OS X users don't have Internet access?

Comments

Is Epson being *that* unreasonable?

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to work for one of the Big printer mfgs (I'm still under NDA, but it is known by two initials...) in their driver development labs.

First, you'd have to be a fucking fool if you think that Epson is waging some sort of Microsoft funded war. They have everything prior to OSX on their website, so that's pretty clear.Epson is well known in the Mac world for color proofing tools, and well respected by many graphic artists I've dealt with.

The tendency at the Mac conspiracy sites is to be just as bad as the radical linux sites.

Back to my original point regarding the drivers -- OSX was, in our opinion, a horrid platform to code for. Despite the abundance of tools, we ran into flack from Apple, from irrational and mean spirited users, and had to put up with awful development tools. Management finally said something to the effect of "Fuck this" no hurry here. This was due in large part to the reaction of users.

This was about three months ago. I left my job to help my wife raise our new daughter, so this isn't a disgrunteled thing. I totally support Epson in this, though I suspect many in the Mac community will be absolutely fucking rabid.

Don't. It does more damage than you think.

Posting AC for the obvious reasons.

Rebate's

[The Donald]

You kept copies of everything, right? When I have this problem with rejections of rebates, I give one call to the rebate provider (Most likley not Espon, a secondary company that fulfulls the request), then write a letter to or call your Atty. General of your state. Explain the situation. Just read the fine print on your rebate. If could say "Not valid at Apple stores", but I did not see that on any rebate form. Usually, second letter to the rebate company, sent certified, with a notice saying that the rejection was sent to your Atty. General's office will get some results.

Anon?

[hotsauce]

Anonymously? How many HP driver developers left their jobs three months ago to help their wives raise their daughters?

Re:Been seeing this in general

[LordNimon]

Part of the problem is that OS 9 users outnumber OS X users by a significant margin. Every day, the ratio changes slightly in favor of OS X, but it will be a long time before it hits 50/50.

Now, of the people who actually buy new software/hardware, the ratio of OS X to OS 9 users is higher. People who are still using a PowerMac 8600, which doesn't support OS X, probably aren't buying a whole lot of new hardware or software anyway.

Another "excuse" I've heard is that some vendors are waiting for Apple to include certain features in OS X before first. What would be the point of writing a multimedia driver if the multimedia subsystem in OS X is going to be rewritten in the next version (for example)? I think Creative is using this excuse for their Sound Blaster Live cards. It doesn't surprise me, Creative Labs has a history of lying about the capabilities of operating systems they don't want to support.

Epson will be allowing free downloads...

[MysteryMilk]

I read this article too, and contacted Epson. According to Epson's customer relations the $3.99 charge for the Mac OS X scanner drivers are for shipping only. This is only for those who don't, or can't download the drivers, but want and actual CD. Epson normally charges $9.95 for for replacement or updated driver CDs, so this is actually a good price. When the drivers are released, the CDs will ship, and the drivers will be available for download...for free! I'm sorry the person who wrote the DailyMac.com article didn't do any research, or actually read the details of this. Mop-Boy