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HP to Region-code Cartridges
prostoalex writes "Looks like the printer cartridge manufacturers will be borrowing techniques from Hollywood. HP introduced region coding for some of the newest printers sold in Europe. HP's US location and US dollar sliding lead to the situation, where cartridge prices in Europe are significantly higher than those in the States. In the Wall Street Journal article HP representative in Europe claims the company doesn't make any money off regional coding for cartridges, and that consumers will win once the US dollar rises over Euro."
These imports are usually not so bad. They are pretty cheap and if you can ignore the audience laughing and the occasional guy standing up and going to the bathroom, it's pretty much the same thing.
Some people prefer to use an OS that just supports almost all printers, instead of one where printer drivers are scarce, and where support depends on whether the developer happens to own that printer, of whether a manufacturer or model is deemed to be 'cool' and supported, or 'evil' and deliberately not supported.
When I last imported something from the US I got an AC converter from Maplin - cost me about £12. Unless the printer senses the mains frequency (!) then that would solve the problem!!
*--BigMan--- Time flies like an arrow.. but personally I prefer a nice glass of wine!
Somehow I get the feeling that his good investments have outweighed the bad.